NO. 3 BULLDOGS USE THREE UNANSWERED

GOALS TO SWEEP NO. 4 SAINTS, 3-1

Dec. 15: Though the opening twenty minutes of Saturday night’s hockey game between No. 4 St. Lawrence and No. 3 Minnesota Duluth looked completely different, the final result was very much the same. The Bulldogs used three unanswered goals and a fantastic 38-save performance from goaltender Kim Martin to sweep the Saints in the highly anticipated series between the two perennial powerhouses by the score of 3-1.

Minnesota Duluth (16-3-1, 13-3-0) has won eight straight games, despite being out-shot by the Saints 39-18 on Saturday evening. Meanwhile, St. Lawrence dropped to 13-5-0 (7-1-0) on the season and is now 3-9-0 all-time against the Bulldogs.

On Friday night, Minnesota Duluth jumped all over St. Lawrence, building a 1-0 lead and a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal. Saturday was much different, as the Scarlet and Brown were the ones who pressured their opponents first, out-shooting the visitors 17-5 in the first period.

The Saints’ third line, which helped generate the squad’s lone on Friday, had a great shift to draw a penalty against UMD midway through the period. While senior goaltender Meaghan Guckian skated towards the bench, rookie Kirsten Roach fired a shot on Martin that caromed off her pads into the slot for an awaiting Lisa Batchelor. The sophomore hammed the rebound into the net and gave St. Lawrence their first lead of the weekend at 12:16 of the first.

Guckian faced only five shots in the period, stopping each of them routinely while the majority of the action took place in front of Martin. However, the goaltender was up to the task and would stop 16 shots to keep her team within striking distance.

In a penalty-filled second period, Minnesota Duluth would take advantage of a minor penalty on first year student Karell Emard that came right after senior Annie Guay served two minutes for tripping. The Saints, who were able to kill Guay’s minor, failed to clear the puck out of the zone and the puck worked its way to UMD’s Saara Tuominen to Guckian’s left. Tuominen drove a low wrist shot behind the goaltender to even the score at 5:01 of the second period.

With the teams exchanging several chances on each end of the ice, it was the Bulldogs that gained control of the game at 17:55 to take the lead 2-1. Tuominen again started the play for the visitors, as she found Elin Holmlov in the right circle. Holmlov then sent a cross-ice pass for Iya Gavrilova who snapped a quick shot that beat Guckian glove-side. It was Gavrilova’s 11 th goal of the season, and sent the visitors to the locker room with a one-goal lead after two periods.

Though St. Lawrence managed to out-shoot UMD 10-3 in the final period, Martin remained in control and shut down the nation’s top scoring offense for the second consecutive night. With the Saints pressuring the puck in the neutral zone trying to score the tying goal, Holmlov found Heidi Pelttari in front of the Bulldogs’ bench.

Pelttari then sent a perfect pass across the ice to Gavrilova, who snuck behind the Saints’ defense and moved in one-on-one with Guckian. Though the goaltender tried to protect the line, Gavrilova’s quick move at the top of the goal mouth allowed her to score her second of the night and give her team an important insurance goal at 9:38 of the final period.

St. Lawrence, skating on the power play with time working against them, seemed to have pulled to within one as Guay rifled a slap shot from the blue line that beat Martin with 5:57 to play in the game. However, just as Guay wound up to take the shot, the referee called junior Alison Domenico for interference, negating the goal and the Saints’ player advantage. Duluth was able to neutralize the puck and Martin was able to keep St. Lawrence off the board, giving the Bulldogs a 3-1 victory that could propel them to the No. 1 spot in the national polls.

St. Lawrence was once again unable to generate offense on the power play, as they finished 0-for-5 while Duluth was 1-for-5 with a player advantage. Martin’s 38-save showing moved her to 13-3-1 on the season, while Guckian fell to 10-5-0 and made 15 saves on the evening.

The game was the final contest for the St. Lawrence women’s hockey team in 2007, as the University heads into the Winter Recess. The Saints will be in action again on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 when they travel to Chestnut Hill , MA to take on 2007 NCAA Semifinalist Boston College in the opening game of a two-game set. The puck will drop on the Saints and Golden Eagles at 4:00pm.

MINNESOTA DULUTH TAKES ROUND ONE OF HEAVYWEIGHT SHOWDOWN WITH SAINTS, 4-1

Dec. 14: The No. 4 St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team ran into one of the hottest teams in the country on Friday night, as the No. 3 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs skated their way to a 4-1 victory in the opening game of a nationally-prominent series in Appleton Arena. The win, anchored by Elin Holmlov’s two goals, is the seventh straight for Minnesota Duluth, who returned to Canton, NY for the first time since the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Minnesota Duluth used one of the nation’s best fore checking attacks to keep the Saints’ high-powered offense off goal, and the Bulldogs’ netminder Kim Martin turned in a fantastic 28 save performance to improve her team’s record to 15-3-1 overall. Senior Meaghan Guckian made 23 saves as her team suffered the loss and fell to

13-4-0 .

The Bulldogs stormed out of the gate and immediately applied pressure to St. Lawrence’s defensive unit. The visitors opened the game with a 7-0 shot advantage before Holmlov would net her 7 th of the season at 7:12 to put UMD on top 1-0. Holmlov reeled in a pass from Iya Gavrilova in the slot and wristed a shot that struck the inside of the left post and bounced back into the net behind Guckian for the game’s opening goal.

Though St. Lawrence began to earn some offensive chances of their own, it was the Bulldogs who were celebrating only 4:14 later when Holmlov made it 2-0 at 11:26 of the opening period. Sarah Murray slapped a puck towards the goal from the blue line, and the puck ricocheted of a St. Lawrence defender’s hand right on Holmlov’s stick. She made a nice move in front of Guckian and lifted a backhanded shot under the crossbar for her second goal of the period.

The remainder of the first period belonged to Martin, as she helped slow down St. Lawrence’s power play with two outstanding saves. First, she stopped junior Alison Domenico on a deflection near the crease, and followed by stoning junior Carson Duggan from point blank range to protect Minnesota Duluth’s 2-0 lead through one period.

Though they were out-worked in the first period, the Scarlet and Brown took control of the second period in the early going, and cut their deficit in half only 2:37 into the period. After a great shift by the team’s third line of rookies Kirsten Roach and Karell Emard and sophomore Lisa Batchelor, the puck came to sophomore defenseman Brittaney Maschmeyer just outside the left circle. The Bruderheim, Alberta native fired a shot that bounced off of a Bulldog player and shot straight up in the air. Fortunately for the Saints, Martin lost sight of the puck and never recovered as the shot sailed over her right shoulder and into the goal for Maschmeyer’s third goal of the season.

The goal rallied St. Lawrence, as they continued to pressure Martin in the early going of the period. The goaltender was once again up to the task, though, turning away Emard on a one-on-one chance and stopping junior Marianna Locke on the door step once again.

A two minute penalty to sophomore Courtney Sawchuk would swing the momentum back in UMD’s favor, as they used beautiful passing to set up their third goal of the night. After being set up for a wide open slap shot, Myriam Trepanier blasted a shot on Guckian that the Victor, NY native was able to control. However, the rebound went right to Gavrilova, who wound up and hammered a shot over Guckian’s glove to put Duluth back on top by two, 3-1, at 7:32 of the second period.

St. Lawrence’s best chance of the period to cut into the lead came from Domenico, as she found an opening in front of Martin and had a chance at a one-timer, which sailed just wide of the post. Only moments later, another shot would skip behind Martin and along the goal line, but never across to keep the visitors ahead 3-1.

Though St. Lawrence looked to gain the momentum early in the period, it wasn’t to be as Minnesota Duluth put the game out of reach at 3:38 of the final period to snag a 4-1 lead and capture the opening game of the series. Emmanuelle Blais recovered a loose puck to Guckian’s right, faked a shot to get the netminder out of position, then fired a shot into the goal for her fifth of the season to lock up the win for Minnesota Duluth, 4-1.

St. Lawrence held a slight edge in shots, 29-27, but was unable to manufacture anything on the power play, finishing 0-for-5. Meanwhile, Duluth was 1-for-3 with the extra skater and improved to 8-3-0 all time against

St. Lawrence.

“They schooled us fundamentally, and out-muscled us in many instances along the boards,” said Saints head coach Paul Flanagan. “Their top line (Holmlov/Gavrilova/Saara Tuominen) is very skilled, and we have to cut back on the mistakes tomorrow to try and get a split.”

The Saints will look to snap Minnesota Duluth’s seven game winning streak when the two teams meet tomorrow, Saturday, December 15th in Appleton Arena. The puck is set to drop at 7:00pm.