Saints Secure Series Lead

Final	1	2	3	Final
Quinnipiac (18-17-3)	0	2	1	3
St. Lawrence (20-11-4)	2	0	3	5

Scoring Summary
1st - 10:17	Brock McBride (St. Lawrence)
1st - 15:28	Mike McKenzie (St. Lawrence)
2nd - 01:02	Dan Henningson (Quinnipiac)
2nd - 17:49	Mike Atkinson (Quinnipiac)
3rd - 01:30	Kevin DeVergilio (St. Lawrence)
3rd - 11:18	SH - Mark Nelson (Quinnipiac)
3rd - 12:47	PP - Mark Armstrong (St. Lawrence)
3rd - 16:01	Zach Miskovic (St. Lawrence)

Quinnipiac	St. Lawrence
G: 3 Players (#4, #16, #18 - 1) A: 5 Players (#11, #16, #19, #22, #44 - 1) Sh: 2 Players (#7, #11 - 3) Sv: Bud Fisher - 33	G: 5 Players (#3, #9, #10, #11, #95 - 1) A: 2 Players (#10, #11 - 2) Sh: Mike McKenzie - 6 Sv: Alex Petizian - 20

TEAM STATISTICS	Quinnipiac	St. Lawrence
Power Plays	0 for 5	1 for 2
Shorthanded Goals	1	0
Penalties (min)	3 (6)	6 (23)
Shots on Goal	23	38
Face Offs Won	39	39

full stats

Boxscore

Canton, NY - Freshman Mark Armstrong scored his sixth goal of the season with 7:13 to play in regulation time and assisted on an insurance goal with 3:59 to go as St. Lawrence University won game one of its best of three ECAC Hockey quarterfinal playoff series with Quinnipiac 5-3 at Appleton Arena on Friday night.

St. Lawrence, 20-11-4 and ranked 15th nationally, can advance to the semifinals with a win in Saturday's game two at Appleton. Quinnipiac, 18-17-3, needs to win on Saturday to prolong its season. The Saint senior class became the third in program history to win 20 or more games in a season three times in their career with Friday's victory.

"It was the kind of game we expected," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "Quinnipiac is a very explosive team offensively, and I was pleased with the way we blocked shots and limited their chances with a solid defensive effort. Plus we had a big night from our big line which got us started. We had a couple of breakdowns in the second period, but I thought we did a very solid job tonight."

The Saints and Bobcats headed into the third period of Friday's series opener knotted at 2-2. Senior Kevin DeVergilio snapped the tie for the Saints just 1:30 into the final period, but Quinnipiac tied it with a shorthanded goal by senior Mark Nelson, the first goal of his career in 136 career outings at 11:18.

Armstrong broke the tie at 12:47 as he slid into the short slot and took a pass from defenseman Shawn Fensel, snapping a quick wrist shot inside the far post on a Saint power play. He later slid a pass back out to the point and senior defenseman Zach Miskovic rifled his 13th of the season past Bobcat goalie Bud Fisher at 16:01 for an insurance goal.

Quinnipiac had a five minute major power play in the final 3:42 of regulation time and  pulled Fisher for an extra attacker, but the Saints were able to kill off the final 3:42 without allowing a shot on goal with the Bobcats skating two men up.

"We needed our "A" game tonight and I think we delivered it," said Marsh. "But this is just one step...we know it is going to be another battle on Saturday."

The Saints opened the scoring with a three-on-two rush midway through the first period. Junior Mike McKenzie got a step on a Bobcat defender and slid a pass from the left faceoff circle to the front of the net where senior Brock McBride redirected the puck through the pads of Quinnipiac goalie Bud Fisher. McBride's 13th goal of the year came at the 10:27 mark. Another odd man rush gave the Saints a 2-0 lead 5:01 later as Kevin DeVergilio worked the puck around a Quinnipiac defender and chipped it in front where McKenzie put it past Fisher for his team-leading 16th.

Quinnipiac battled back to tie it in the second period. Defenseman Dan Henningson got the Bobcats on the board as he pinched in and took a pass from Bryan Leitch, chipping the puck over the shoulder of Saint goalie Alex Petizian just 1:02 into the second period. That goal ended a streak of 166:21 shutout minutes for Petizian.  The Bobcats tied it on a fluke goal with 2:11 to play in the period as Mike Atkinson took a shot which hit Petizian's stick, flipped up in the air and ended up in the net.

Petizian won his fourth straight for the Saints with a 20-save night and is now 7-0-1 in his last eight starts.

"Alex made some huge saves at the end of the first period," added Marsh. "He just keeps stringing together consistent performances and has been a huge part of our success down the stretch."