St. Lawrence Advances in Playoffs with 3-1 Win vs. Clarkson

POTSDAM, N.Y. -- The No. 5 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team, fresh off an incredible come-from-behind victory last night, swept their North Country rival from the ECACHL Tournament on Saturday night, defeating Clarkson by the score of 3-1. The Saints (27-6-3, 17-4-1) advance to the ECACHL semifinals, where they will meet the Harvard Crimson.

The opening period on Saturday was dominated with play in the neutral zone as neither team wanted to fall behind. Clarkson's Britney Selina had the best chance to break the scoreless tie when she beat a St. Lawrence defender and closed in on junior goaltender Meaghan Guckian from the right side. However, the Saints netminder flashed some leather, reaching out and gloving the shot to keep the game scoreless.

The Saints penalty killing unit, ranked third in the nation, stole the show in the opening period though. Clarkson had the only two power play opportunities in the period, but St. Lawrence applied constant pressure and kept the visitors without a single shot in the four minutes.

Offensively, the Saints had the majority of chances in the period but nothing that really threatened Clarkson goaltender Kira Hurley. Though the Saints did manage eight shots on goal in the first, several were taken from long distance, and Hurley was able to keep them in front of her.

The second period saw much of the same tactical style of play, as each team's defense did a solid job of protecting their goalkeeper. Guckian was forced to make only three saves in each of the first two periods, while Hurley had a very busy second period, turning back 14 St. Lawrence bids. Clarkson also caught a break when senior Casey Hughes fired a wrap around shot from the slot that beat Hurley's right pad, but bounced hard off the right post and back into play.

With the period winding down, an icing call brought the face-off to Hurley's left in the Clarkson zone. Junior Sabrina Harbec won the draw, pulling it back to fellow classmate Annie Guay at the blue line. Guay rifled a shot towards Hurley, but before it got to her, senior Chelsea Grills deflected the puck in front of the crease and past the goal line to give St. Lawrence a 1-0 lead. The goal was Grills' 14th of the season and came with only 50 seconds remaining in the second period.

After the goal, the Saints came out fired up in the third, knowing they were 20 minutes away from the ECACHL semifinals. Sophomore Carson Duggan got the puck to Harbec in the Clarkson zone and the St. Hubert, Quebec native swiftly made her way behind the Golden Knight's goal. Before Hurley and the defense could track her down, Harbec made a perfect centering pass in the slot again to Grills, who fired a quick one-timer that caught Hurley moving to her left and beat her glove side to put the Saints up 2-0 a mere 1:01 into the third. Clarkson tried to get back into the game after Grills' 15th of the season, as the Green and Gold were able to get some offense going in the third. Guckian was up to the task, though, and made a key save six minutes into the third when she stopped Marie-Jo Gaudet's backhander in the slot. The Victor, NY native came up big again on the penalty kill, robbing Brooke Beazer with just under twelve minutes to play in regulation.

With the game still in doubt, it was again the Harbec-Grills-Duggan line that did in Clarkson, as Duggan scored her 27th of the season at 9:34 of the third with assists going to each of her line mates. Grills got the play started this time, finding Harbec in the circle to Hurley's right. Harbec then snapped to pass to Duggan in the slot, who sent a low shot that beat the Clarkson goalie's left pad to put the Scarlet and Brown ahead 3-0. Harbec was credited with her third assist of the game and 40th of the season, while Grills picked up her third point of the evening as well.

After a Clarkson timeout, the Golden Knights knew they needed goals quickly if they were going to keep their season alive. With St. Lawrence defender Britni Smith sitting in the penalty box for interference, the Knights would end Guckian's shutout bid with a power play goal at 13:11 of the third period. Carlee Eusepi found Beazer along the boards to Guckian's right and the defenseman sent a long shot while her teammates set up a screen in front. The puck got past Guckian and into the net for Beazer's third of the season, making the score 3-1 with 6:49 remaining.

From there on out, though, the stage belonged to Guckian, as she finished an outstanding third period with nine saves to protect her team's two-goal cushion. The Knights tried to keep pressure on the Saints in the offensive zone, but a bench minor for Too Many Players on the Ice at 16:23 of the third period did in Clarkson, forcing them to skate short-handed for the majority of the remainder of the game.

"I thought we really responded well after last night, as we knew we needed to play better tonight," said St. Lawrence head coach Paul Flanagan, who collected his 200th career win behind the Saints bench on Saturday night. "Our penalty killing unit stepped up and gave our team a big lift and a lot of confidence tonight."

The Saints finished 0-for-3 with the extra skater, but held Clarkson to a 1-for-7 mark on the power play. Guckian finished with 15 saves and earned the win to improve to 22-6-3 on the season, while Hurley took the loss (7-12-3) despite making 28 stops.

"Clarkson did a good job eliminating any second-chances for us in front of the net, and forced us to really capitalize on our opportunities," added Flanagan. "It was a good series with two exciting games. We knew Clarkson would be tough and they gave us all we could handle."

The ECACHL semifinals are set for March 3rd, as the No. 2 seeded Saints draw No. 3 Harvard for the right to play for the conference championship. Meanwhile, tournament host Dartmouth will play Colgate in the other match-up. The ECACHL championship game will then be played the following day on Sunday, March 4th.