Saints Offense Explodes in Win Over Niagara

Final	1	2	3	Final
St. Lawrence (10-7-3, 4-3-1 ECAC)	3	3	1	7
Niagara (4-12-2, 1-3-1 CHA)	1	1	0	2

Scoring Summary
1st - 05:38	Nick Pitsikoulis (St. Lawrence)
1st - 07:29	Gotto, Tyler (Niagara)
1st - 13:36	Nick Pitsikoulis (St. Lawrence)
1st - 17:20	Travis Vermeulen (St. Lawrence)
2nd - 03:06	Haczyk, Bryan (Niagara)
2nd - 04:00	Mark Armstrong (St. Lawrence)
2nd - 11:33	PP - George Hughes (St. Lawrence)
2nd - 19:05	Jeremiah Cunningham (St. Lawrence)
3rd - 11:18	PP - Jeremiah Cunningham (St. Lawrence)

St. Lawrence	Niagara
G: 2 Players (#19, #22 - 2) A: Kyle Flanagan - 3 Sh: Aaron Bogosian - 6 Sv: Kain Tisi - 21	G: 2 Players (#7, #22 - 1) A: 2 Players (#8, #9 - 1) Sh: Haczyk, Bryan - 4 Sv: Noonan, Chris - 16

TEAM STATISTICS	St. Lawrence	Niagara
Power Plays	2 for 7	0 for 2
Shorthanded Goals	0	0
Penalties (min)	7 (30)	11 (30)
Shots on Goal	38	23
Face Offs Won	32	37

full stats

Nick Pitsikoulis and Jeremiah Cunningham scored two goals each and Kain Tisi improved to 2-0-1 in his last three starts as St. Lawrence University dominated Niagara University 7-2 for its tenth win of the season in a non-league hockey game at Niagara Friday night.

Niagara was playing its first home game in nearly two months with its last game in Dwyer Arena a 4-1 win over RPI on Nov. 18. While the Purple Eagles came into Friday's game 4-11-2 overall, they went 4-3-0 in their previous seven with two of the losses coming to fifth-ranked Bemidji State and the other to sixth ranked North Dakota. They also dropped one goal decisions at Michigan and Cornell which were ranked in the top ten at the time. The Saints improve to 10-7-3 overall and are 2-0-1 in the New Year.

"That is the best 4-11-2 team you are ever going to see," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "They've played some very good competition and have been in the majority of the games. I thought we played very well tonight. All four lines were playing well and all four contributed and we were pretty solid on defense and on special teams as well.

"I am sure Niagara will come out with something to prove in the rematch on Saturday, and it will probably be a much different game, but all of our guys can take some pride in a very good effort tonight."

Pitsikoulis, who was out early on one line change and stayed on late on another, scored two first period goals to start the Saints on their way.

Pitsikoulis was first man out on a line change early in the period and ended up finishing off a two-on-one with Rick Carden with his second goal of the season. George Hughes started the play as he sent the puck ahead to Carden, who broke into the Niagara end with Pitsikoulis on his left side. Carden took the initial shot which Niagara goalie Chris Noonan kicked out, but Pitsikoulis jumped on the rebound and put it into the wide open net at 5:38 for the game's first goal.

The Purple Eagles caught a break, tying it at 7:29 when Tyler Gotto threw the puck toward the net and it deflected past Tisi off the stick of a Saint defender, but Pitsikoulis struck again six minutes later to put the Saints back in front.

Pitsikoulis was late in a shift, but stayed on as Kyle Flanagan took a shot which was stopped, but Pitsikoulis again gathered in the rebound and backhanded it into the open side of the net with Jeff Caister also assisting at 13:36. Travis Vermeulen gave the Saints their 3-1 lead as linemates Alex Curran and Brandon  Bollig got him the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle and Vermeulen rocketed his seventh of the season in off the crossbar.

Niagara cut the Saint lead to 3-2 scoring right after the Saints had killed off a power play as Bryan Haczyk's shot along the ice snuck through Tisi's pads at 3:07, but Mark Armstrong had an almost immediate answer for the Saints who regained their two-goal lead just 57 seconds after the NU goal. Armstrong was alone in front and Jake Klancher found him with a pass from the corner which Armstrong put away for his third of the season. Pitsikoulis picked up his third point of the night with the second assist on the goal.

Freshman defenseman George Hughes made it a 5-2 game and ended the night for Noonan at 11:33 on the Saints first power play chance of the night as Hughes' hard shot from the point went in off the pads of Noonan with Curran and Bollig assisting.  A great play by Flanagan gave the Saints their 6-2 lead with under a minute to play in the second as he made a couple of moves to create space in the middle and then snapped a shot toward net which Jeremiah Cunningham tipped in for his third of the year at 19:06.

The Saints made it a 7-2 game with their second power play goal of the night at 11:18 of the third period as Cunningham scored his second of the night, finishing off a pretty passing play from Mike McKenzie and Flanagan, who picked up this third assist of the night and seventh point in two games against the Purple Eagles this season.