ECACHL Season Ends at NCAA Regionals
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Clarkson and St. Lawrence were the last ECAC Hockey League teams to take the ice this season, as both received bids to the NCAA tournament. In the East Regional, played in Rochester, N.Y., the Golden Knights took UMass to overtime before falling 1-0 in the first semifinal of the afternoon. In the Northeast Regional, played in Manchester, N.H., the Saints lost to Boston College 4-1, also in semifinal action.
After skating to a 0-0 tie in regulation, Clarkson and UMass continued their scoreless battle into the opening seven minutes of sudden-death overtime before the Minutemen ended the contest when Kevin Jarman lifted in a rebound at 7:40 mark for the only goal of the contest. ECACHL Goaltender of the Year, David Leggio, was on top of his game through the NCAA contest at the Blue Cross Arena, making 13 saves in the first period and another 16 in the third stanza. Leggio finished with 37 saves and set a new Golden Knight record for saves in a season with 1,037 stops through 39 games, breaking the old mark of 1,034 set by Dan Murphy in 1995-96.
Clarkson, which won its fifth ECACHL Tournament title last weekend in Albany and advanced to the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 1999, ended the 2006-07 campaign with a 25-9-5 record.
The Saints fell behind 2-0 before scoring its lone goal against Boston College. Brock McBride scored at 2:12 of the second when his shot from the sideboards after a pass by Max Taylor eluded BC goalie Cory Schneider for McBride's ninth tally of the season. Saint goalie Alex Petizian came through with a big night for the Saints and gave them a chance to win. He was stunned on a third period save on a two-on-one, but stayed in the game and finished with 31 saves. The Eagles were able to find the back two more times in the contest to earn the win..
The Saints were making their first appearance in the NCAAs since the 2001 season and finished the year with a 23-14-2 season.
While the ECACHL teams are done skating for the season, individuals will still have a presence through the final weekend of NCAA play at the Frozen Four. A handful of league athletes are under consideration for All-America honors as well as other national awards, such as: St. Lawrence senior defenseman Drew Bagnall and Dartmouth junior forward David Jones are both top-10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award; Rensselaer senior forward Kirk MacDonald is a finalist for the Humanitarian Award; Dartmouth's Dan Shribman is a finalist for the Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award; and Quinnipiac's Brandon Wong and Yale's Sean Backman are candidates for National Rookie of the Year honors.
Quinnipiac's Reid Cashman and Rensselaer's MacDonald will also be in St. Louis for the national championship festivities, as they will both compete for the East squad in the annual Pontiac Frozen Four Skills Challenge.
