Saints Earn Weekend Sweep in Final Home Series

Box Score

CANTON, NY -- The St. Lawrence University men's hockey Class of 2008 stormed out of Appleton Arena in style this weekend, as the Saints completed their first home sweep of the season with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Princeton University on "Senior Night." Much like the team's win over Quinnipiac on Friday night, it was the veteran players leading the way, as Pat Muir recorded his first collegiate goal and Justin Pesony made 34 saves between the pipes to pick up the victory.

The victory moved St. Lawrence to 12-18-4 (7-13-2) on the season and into ninth place in the final ECAC Hockey standings. The Saints will head to Hamilton, NY next weekend for a best-of-three series with the Colgate University Raiders in the opening round of the 2008 ECAC Hockey Tournament. Despite the loss, Princeton (17-12-0, 14-8-0) still finished the season as the No. 2 seed in the standings and will have a first round by in the playoffs.

The two teams played a very competitive opening period, with St. Lawrence holding a narrow 12-9 lead in shots on goal. Princeton goaltender Zane Kalemba had a perfect period and was given a lead at the 9:00 minute mark of the first when Mike Moore ripped a wrist shot past Pesony from just inside the right circle while the Tigers skated on the power play. The goal was Moore's 5th of the season and put Princeton ahead 1-0 after one.

Princeton took control of the game only 56 seconds into the second period, when the Tigers again capitalized while skating with a man advantage. Jody Pederson fed a quick pass from the blue line into the slot right on the tape of Brett Wilson. Wilson controlled the puck, and using a spin move to his right, fired a low shot past Pesony's left leg for his 13th of the season and a 2-0 lead.

Muir would cut his team's deficit in half at 8:55, as the Needham, MA native used a great individual effort to get

St. Lawrence on the scoreboard. Muir took a pass from senior Charlie Giffin and banged a shot off of Kalemba's pads, only to outmuscle a defenseman, corral his own rebound and score his 1st goal of the season.

The goal seemed to energize the Saints, who celebrated in front of Kalemba again only 56 seconds later when sophomore Alex Curran picked up his 4th goal of the season to even the scoring at 2-2. The Perth-Andover, NB moved in on a two-on-one chance in front of the Princeton cage, and when he realized the passing lane was taken away, Curran snapped a shot between the near post and Kalemba's glove to cap the second period scoring and tie the score.

Both goalies had efficient periods, though Pesony got the better of things with 14 saves to his counterpart's ten.

St. Lawrence, playing in their final game at Appleton Arena for the 2007-08 season, showed a lot of hustle and effort both in the corners and while back-checking. Their hard work paid off at 5:18, when a great shift led to Ross' goal to put the Scarlet and Brown ahead for the first time in the game.

With Princeton on their heel, junior Shawn Fensel cut into the zone and circled the puck back to sophomore Sean Flanagan at the blue line. The Canton, NY native turned and sent a pass to Ross outside the right circle, as he was wide open and no one between he and Palemba. The goaltender had no chance, as the Stony Island, NS native fired an absolute laser into the bottom-right portion of the net to put St. Lawrence ahead 3-2.

St. Lawrence protected their lead quite well, as they were able to clear the puck away from the goal mouth in front of Pesony and limit Princeton's second chances. With the game's outcome still in doubt at 17:16, Princeton's Brad Schroeder took a boarding penalty in his defensive zone that hampered his team's chances at netting the equalizer. Though the Tigers were able to pull Kalemba for the extra attacker after Schroeder's penalty expired, they weren't able to solve Pesony in the final 44 seconds as St. Lawrence held on for a 3-2 come-from-behind win.

Princeton held a slim 36-35 advantage in shots on goal, and was an impressive 2-of-4 on the power play while the Saints were held without a power play tally (0-for-2).

Pesony improved to 2-3-0 on the season with a 34-save performance, while Kalemba suffered the loss, falling to 16-8-0 despite making 32 stops.

The game was the final contest in Appleton Arena for six St. Lawrence seniors including Pesony, Giffin, Muir, Jordan Hack, and John Hallas. Meanwhile, the Saints and Raiders will kick-off their best-of-three series on Friday, March 7 at Starr Rink in Hamilton, NY. A game time is yet to be determined.