St. Lawrence Continues to Roll in ECACHL Action
ALBANY, N.Y. -- St. Lawrence and Dartmouth were the big winners over the weekend, as the two teams swept their ECAC Hockey League games. While those two claimed four points on the weekend, four others -- Cornell, Harvard, Princeton and Quinnipiac -- earned splits. In non-league action, Brown, Rensselaer and Yale all picked up wins.
For the Saints, their perfect start in league play is their best since sweeping four to open conference action in the 1999-2000 season. It also marks the first time the Saints have won back-to-back league series since that 99-00 season. SLU has now won five straight games, matching a five-game streak in December and January of 2004-05. Senior captain Kyle Rank had a goal and two assists over the weekend, and has six points in his last three games to lead the team. His three points and 29 faceoff wins in the Ws led to his being named Player of the Week. Saint rookies were keys to Saturday's win over Quinnipiac, including frosh Sean Flanagan who scored his first collegiate goal to tie the game at 1-all. He then assisted on the game winner.
The Big Green's Mike Devine earned Goaltender of the Week honors after he backstopped his squad to victory over the weekend by making 72 total saves. Freshman teammate T.J. Galiardi provided some scoring, as he potted a goal each night, while Nick Johnson had three helpers on the weekend. It was the Big Green's first-ever road sweep of Colgate and Cornell. The Green started things off with a 6-3 win over the Raiders and then fought off a late charge by the Big Red to win 3-2 on Saturday. Dartmouth opened up with two goals in the first period vs. Cornell and then scored an empty-netter late in the third for a 3-0 lead. The Big Red sparked to life in the waning minutes of the game and scored twice with less than a minute to go (and with an extra-attacker), but there wasn't enough time to tie it up.
Cornell and Harvard started off their weekend with the CSTV national Game of the Week, and it proved to be another Big Red-Crimson battle. This time, Cornell came out on top after scoring within the final five minutes to tie the game and then go ahead by one. Michael Kennedy netted the winner on a breakaway with just 1:33 to go, setting the capacity crowd into a frenzy. CSTV has video highlights available online at www.cstv.com.
Despite the loss, the Crimson came back the next night and downed Colgate 4-1. Jimmy Fraser netted the game-winning goal and had an assist to lead the team. Justin Tobe earned his first win of the year between the pipes, after making 18 saves.
The Crimson made headlines earlier in the week with a non-league victory over Beantown neighbor Boston College on Tuesday. Kyle Richter earned the win, a 4-0 shutout, in just his second career game. In two games last week, the frosh posted a 1.51 goals against average and along with the big win over nationally-ranked BC, earned Rookie of the Week honors.
Quinnipiac picked up its two points on the road, taking a 6-4 game at Clarkson on Friday. The Bobcats scored twice in each period to secure the win, with Bryan Leitch and David Marshall each scoring twice. The game-winning goal was a penalty shot, scored by Leitch.
In non-league action, Brown played host to Wayne State for a two-game set and won Saturday night, 7-3. Sean Muncy helped Brown to the weekend split, notching two goals and two assists. Matt Vokes scored the winning goal on Saturday.
Rensselaer and Yale both played single non-league games and each earned a win. The Bulldogs downed Connecticut 3-2 with Sean Backman netting the winner early in the third. The Engineers were led by Oren Eizenman's two goals and goalie Jordan Alford's 23 saves.
ECACHL Player of the Week
KYLE RANK -- St. Lawrence
Sr., Center * Elmira, Ont.
Rank helped the Saints to their first 4-0 start in ECACHL play
since the 1999-2000 season with a goal and two assists against
Princeton and an assist on the game tying goal against Quinnipiac.
He also won 29 faceoffs.
ECACHL Goalie of the Week
MIKE DEVINE -- Dartmouth
Jr. * Orchard Park, N.Y.
Devine earned two wins by making 72 total saves. It was the Big
Green's first-ever road sweep of Colgate and Cornell.
ECACHL Rookie of the Week
KYLE RICHTER -- Harvard
Goalie * Calgary, Alb.
Richter made 36 saves to blank No. 3 Boston College in his second
career game. In two starts this week, he posted a 1.51 GAA.
TEAM NOTES
Brown: Brown earned its first win of the season on Saturday with a 7-3 victory over Wayne State in which six different players scored a goal and 11 different players had at least one point ... Sean Muncy had four points over the weekend with an assist in the first game and the first two goals of his career and an assist in the second game ... The seven-goal outburst in the second game was the most for Brown since a 7-4 W over Rensselaer in the 2005 ECACHL playoffs.
Clarkson: After earning its first ECACHL weekend road sweep in four years, Clarkson dropped two games at home this past weekend . The Knights, who have already equaled their win total on the road from last season (3), have also already lost the same amount of home games (3) as they did for all of the 2005-06 campaign at Cheel Arena . Clarkson, which entered the weekend as the top scoring team in the NCAA with 4.88 goals per game, was held to a season-low 19 shots on goal in the 3-2 loss to Princeton.
Colgate: All three Raider goaltenders saw ice time this weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard. Junior Mark Dekanich started Friday's game against the Big Green, and was replaced by classmate Justin Kowalkoski early in the third. Freshman Charles Long made 37 saves in his first collegiate start on Saturday against Harvard ... Junior Mike Werner scored his first career goal in Friday's game versus Dartmouth. Two minutes later, sophomore Tom Riley scored to cap a career-long seven-game point streak.
Cornell: With its 3-2 win over Harvard on Friday, Cornell opened the year 5-0-0 for the first time since the 1971-72 season, when it started with eight straight wins ... Cornell opened league play 3-1 for the second straight season, and with identical results for those four games. Cornell defeated Brown, Yale and Harvard to open the year last year before falling to Dartmouth -- the same results as this season.
Dartmouth: Dartmouth swept Colgate and Cornell on the road for the first time ever ... Junior Jon Grecu was key for Dartmouth's victory on Friday as he had first multiple-goal game, potting two against the Raiders ... Tanner Glass had his first-ever game winning empty net goal against Cornell on Saturday ... David Jones and Tanner Glass lead the Big Green in scoring with two goals and six assists apiece.
Harvard: Harvard has killed its last 23 penalties and has the nation's third-highest penalty-kill percentage at .921 (35 for 38) . The Crimson has scored at least one PPG in each of its six games, including two in each of its last three . Earlier in the week, freshman goalie Kyle Richter made 36 saves to shut out No. 3 Boston College in his second career start
Princeton: After dropping four-straight games by a single goal, the Tigers won a game, by the same one-goal margin, this weekend. Princeton's win at Clarkson was its first in Potsdam since 1998 and only the third for the Tigers at Clarkson. Princeton is 3-33 all-time in Potsdam ... Freshman Tyler Beachell picked the perfect time to score his first career goal, the eventual game winner at Clarkson.
Quinnipiac: Thanks to a career-best three point night at Clarkson on Friday, defenseman Dan Henningson has already matched his point total from a year ago ... Saturday's loss at St. Lawrence was the first in over a month for the Bobcats, who had been unbeaten (5-0-2) in their previous seven games.
Rensselaer: With its 4-1 win over Merrimack on Sunday, RPI is now 3-1-2 in non-league games this season ... Rensselaer, which is in the midst of a six-game homestand, is unbeaten in five games (3-0-2). Three of those games went to overtime ... RPI had six power-play goals in its first seven games. The Engineers scored four power-play goals against Merrimack ... All four of Oren Eizenman's goals have come on the power play.
St. Lawrence: The Saints 4-0-0 start in league play is their best since going 4-0-0 to start the 1999-2000 season. It is also the first time the Saints have won back-to-back league series since 1999-2000. SLU has now won five straight games, matching a five-game win streak in December and January of 2004-05 ... Only goaltenders Alex Petizian and Kain Tisi have yet to score a collegiate point among the nine rookies on the Saint roster ... Forward Mike McKenzie leads the Saint freshman class in scoring with two goals and six assists and has scored in four of his last five starts.
Union: Sophomore T.J. Fox leads the team with 10 points on four goals and six assists ... Six of Fox's points have come on the power play (3-3-6), ranking him fourth in the league in power-play point scoring ... The Dutchmen are off until after Thanksgiving when they host Army and Massachusetts at Messa Rink on November 24 and 25.
Yale: The Bulldogs are 4-1-0 to start the season for the first time since 2000-01, including a 3-1-0 mark at Ingalls Rink. Yale went 5-8-1 at home last winter ... Sean Backman scored twice in Yale's most recent game, a 3-2 victory vs. Connecticut ... Sophomore goalie Alec Richards (.912, 2.38) has played every minute in goal for the Bulldogs this season.
