Petizian Brilliant, but Saints Fall in Third-Place Game
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Senior goaltender Alex Petizian came through with a brilliant performance, setting the St. Lawrence University career goals against average in the process, but the Saints fell short in their bid for a 20-win season as Brown University won the 2010 ECAC Hockey third place game 3-0 at the Times Union Center in Albany Saturday afternoon.
The Saint offense was held to just one goal for the two tournament games in Albany and Brown outshot the Saints 37-21 in Saturday's game, which could have been even more lopsided had not Petizian come through with his stellar play in his final game in a Saint uniform. The Saints finish the season 19-16-7 while Brown, which had a great playoff run, is 13-20-4 with five of those 13 wins coming in the tournament.
Petizian played in his 86th career game and completes his career with a 2.53 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. The goal against average eclipses the career record of 2.55 established by Bill Sloan from 1952-56.
Both goaltenders came up with key saves in a scoreless first period and the Saints had a shot clang off the post on a power play midway through the period. Kyle Flanagan had the best scoring chance for the Saints, but Brown goalie Dan Rosen was able to get back across the crease to get part of the Saint rookie's shot at the open net and kept it out.
Petizian made a series of spectacular saves in the second period, but could do nothing on a breakaway by Brown's Aaron Volpatti, who scored his 17th of the season as the Bears turned a lucky bounce into the game's first goal. The Saints were pressuring and Chris Zaires picked up a rebound off a save by Rosen and flipped the puck up in the air and toward the blue line. The puck glanced off the top of the glove of Saint defender Derek Keller, who was trying to knock it down and keep it in play, and Volpatti picked it up at center ice and soloed on Petizian at 14:34.
Brown came out hard to start the third period and did not allow the Saints a shot on goal for the first nine minutes of the period. The Bears made it a 2-0 game at 4:05 of the third as Harry Zolnierczyk took the puck behind the Saint net and then backhanded a centering pass to Jesse Fratkin, who was alone in front of Petizian and put away his seventh of the season.
The Saints were unable to sustain any offense in the third and a spate of penalties did not help the Saints get back into the game. Brown clinched the win when Zolnierczyk scored his 13th of the season into the empty net as the Saints pulled Petizian with 3:33 to play in an effort to jump start the offense.
