Saints Win First of the Season

Final	1	2	3	Final
Rensselaer (1-8-0, 0-2-0)	0	0	0	0
St. Lawrence (1-5-0, 1-1-0)	1	1	0	2

Scoring Summary
1st - 07:01	Patrick Doherty (St. Lawrence)
2nd - 00:47	George Hughes (St. Lawrence)

Rensselaer	St. Lawrence
G: N/A A: N/A Sh: Nick Bailen - 5 Sv: Bryce Merriam - 18	G: 2 Players (#15, #18 - 1) A: Kyle Flanagan - 2 Sh: Greg Carey - 5 Sv: Matt Weninger - 18

TEAM STATISTICS	Rensselaer	St. Lawrence
Power Plays	0 for 6	0 for 7
Shorthanded Goals	0	0
Penalties (min)	8 (24)	7 (25)
Shots on Goal	18	20
Face Offs Won	34	25

full stats

Freshman wing Patrick Doherty scored his third goal of the season 7:01 into the first period and that was all sophomore goaltender Matt Weninger needed as he came through with a 18-save shutout, helping St. Lawrence University to a 2-0 ECAC Hockey victory over Rensselaer at Appleton Arena in Canton Saturday night.

Weninger recorded his third career shutout as St. Lawrence, 1-5-0, 1-1-0, won for the first time in six starts to split the opening weekend of league play. Goal-starved RPI lost its seventh straight and has only scored five goals in those seven games. The Engineers, now 1-7-0, 0-2-0, came up empty on Saturday despite having a full two minutes of five-on-three power play early in the third period and then pulling goaltender Bryce Merriam for an extra attacker with over two minutes to go in the game.

While Weninger did not see a ton of shots as the Saints turned in a second straight solid defensive effort in front of him, he did make some key saves at key moments as RPI created some chances but couldn't finish them off. The Saints blocked 13 shots as a team in the game, many of them coming in power play situations.

"That was a win we needed and certainly earned with a good effort across the board," said Saint associate head coach Mike Hurlbut. "We as a coaching staff are extremely pleased with the way we played in both games this weekend and we can use this as a springboard for a good start to the league season. There are still things we are going to work on to improve, but the guys made great strides in the break between the RIT game and Friday night."

Doherty opened the scoring when he worked his way to the front of the net and took a pass from the corner by sophomore corner Greg Carey, burying a shot just under the crossbar and over Merriam's shoulder. Junior center Kyle Flanagan also assisted on the goal, picking up his ninth point six games thus far this season.

The Saints made it a 2-0 game just 47 seconds into the second period as Carey again started a scoring play with a nifty pass from the corner. This time sophomore defenseman Pat Raley relayed the puck to defensive partner George Hughes and the Saint junior gunned a shot to the upper right corner for his first goal of the season.

SLU had chances to add to the lead with seven power play opportunities in the game, but RPI killed all seven with help from Merriam, who finished with 18 saves.

"We had some good looks on the power play early, but couldn't quite get the puck through...again, that is something that will come as we continue to work on our overall game," Hurlbut added.