Saints' Season Ends in Tie

Boxscore

Albany, NY -- The season ended for St. Lawrence University's hockey team with a 2-2 tie against Princeton in the third place game of the 2009 ECAC Hockey Championship Tournament at the Times Union Center in Albany on Saturday evening.

The Saints, who finished the year 21-12-5, were in a must-win situation in the third place game in order to continue their season with a possible NCAA invitation, but Princeton held off the Saints through the final 14 minutes of regulation and a five-minute overtime to gain the tie and almost definitely secure its own spot in the NCAAs.

St. Lawrence found itself in a situation in which it pulled goalie Alex Petizian for an extra attacker with over a minute left in an overtime tie...but the only result which would have sent the Saints forward was a win and it wasn't to happen. While the Saints did take a post-overtime shootout 2-1 to officially claim third place, the official game result was the tie and the end of not only the Saint season, but the careers of seven outstanding seniors who were the third senior class in Saint history to win 20-or-more games in three of their four seasons.

"It was a tough way to end it for the seniors," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "I can't think of another team that I wanted to win more for the seniors than this group.

"We are obviously disappointed not to move on, but we do want to congratulate the three teams that will from this tournament. As tough as it is to have the season end, this team worked hard and accomplished a lot and was part of a great tournament here in Albany. "

The Tigers opened the scoring just 4:49 into play as junior center Dan Bartlett collected the rebound of an initial shot by Sam Sabky and unleashed a hard shot from the right faceoff circle which Alex Petizian got a pad on, but couldn't keep out of the net. The Saints came back just over five minutes later to tie the score as Rick Carden won a faceoff in the Princeton end with the puck going back to the point where Matt Generous one-timed it with a slapshot which beat Tiger goalie Zane Kalemba along the ice to the far post. The goal was the eighth of the year for Generous.

Princeton cashed in on a five-on-three power play to regain the lead early in the second period. Both penalties came in the final minute of the first period and Bartlett scored his second of the night from in tight 1:16 into the second period. Mark Magnowski set up the go-ahead goal, the 15th of Bartlett's season.

The Saints came back to tie it early in the third period as Shawn Fensel worked the puck free at the top of the faceoff circle in the Princeton end and sent it back to Derek Keller in the deep center slot. Keller snapped off a shot which glanced off the post and into the net at 5:48 for his third goal of the season and the 2-2 tie.

And there it stayed as both goaltenders came up with some big saves the rest of the way in the third period and Princeton's defense stepped it up in the overtime, keeping the pressure on in the Saint end and not allowing the Saints to get anything set up offensively at the other end of the ice. Neither team managed a shot on goal in the five minute extra period as Princeton knew all it needed was a tie to advance.

The shootout, which solved only which team is third and which is fourth in tournament records, saw the Saints score on their first two shots, a Kevin DeVergilio shot to the upper corner and a Mike McKenzie backhand. Princeton scored on its first shot, missed its second and Petizian saved the third to end the shootout with a 2-1 verdict in the Saints' favor.