No. 3 Bulldogs Use Three Unanswered Goals to Sweep No. 4 Saints

Box Score

Canton, N.Y. -- Though the opening twenty minutes of Saturday night's hockey game between No. 4 St. Lawrence and No. 3 Minnesota Duluth looked completely different, the final result was very much the same. The Bulldogs used three unanswered goals and a fantastic 38-save performance from goaltender Kim Martin to sweep the Saints in the highly anticipated series between the two perennial powerhouses by the score of 3-1.

Minnesota Duluth (16-3-1, 13-3-0) has won eight straight games, despite being out-shot by the Saints 39-18 on Saturday evening. Meanwhile, St. Lawrence dropped to 13-5-0 (7-1-0) on the season and is now 3-9-0 all-time against the Bulldogs.

On Friday night, Minnesota Duluth jumped all over St. Lawrence, building a 1-0 lead and a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal. Saturday was much different, as the Scarlet and Brown were the ones who pressured their opponents first, out-shooting the visitors 17-5 in the first period.

The Saints' third line, which helped generate the squad's lone on Friday, had a great shift to draw a penalty against UMD midway through the period. While senior goaltender Meaghan Guckian skated towards the bench, rookie Kirsten Roach fired a shot on Martin that caromed off her pads into the slot for an awaiting Lisa Batchelor. The sophomore hammed the rebound into the net and gave St. Lawrence their first lead of the weekend at 12:16 of the first.

Guckian faced only five shots in the period, stopping each of them routinely while the majority of the action took place in front of Martin. However, the goaltender was up to the task and would stop 16 shots to keep her team within striking distance.

In a penalty-filled second period, Minnesota Duluth would take advantage of a minor penalty on first year student Karell Emard that came right after senior Annie Guay served two minutes for tripping. The Saints, who were able to kill Guay's minor, failed to clear the puck out of the zone and the puck worked its way to UMD's Saara Tuominen to Guckian's left. Tuominen drove a low wrist shot behind the goaltender to even the score at 5:01 of the second period.

With the teams exchanging several chances on each end of the ice, it was the Bulldogs that gained control of the game at 17:55 to take the lead 2-1. Tuominen again started the play for the visitors, as she found Elin Holmlov in the right circle. Holmlov then sent a cross-ice pass for Iya Gavrilova who snapped a quick shot that beat Guckian glove-side. It was Gavrilova's 11 th goal of the season, and sent the visitors to the locker room with a one-goal lead after two periods.

Though St. Lawrence managed to out-shoot UMD 10-3 in the final period, Martin remained in control and shut down the nation's top scoring offense for the second consecutive night. With the Saints pressuring the puck in the neutral zone trying to score the tying goal, Holmlov found Heidi Pelttari in front of the Bulldogs' bench.

Pelttari then sent a perfect pass across the ice to Gavrilova, who snuck behind the Saints' defense and moved in one-on-one with Guckian. Though the goaltender tried to protect the line, Gavrilova's quick move at the top of the goal mouth allowed her to score her second of the night and give her team an important insurance goal at 9:38 of the final period.

St. Lawrence, skating on the power play with time working against them, seemed to have pulled to within one as Guay rifled a slap shot from the blue line that beat Martin with 5:57 to play in the game. However, just as Guay wound up to take the shot, the referee called junior Alison Domenico for interference, negating the goal and the Saints' player advantage. Duluth was able to neutralize the puck and Martin was able to keep St. Lawrence off the board, giving the Bulldogs a 3-1 victory that could propel them to the No. 1 spot in the national polls.

St. Lawrence was once again unable to generate offense on the power play, as they finished 0-for-5 while Duluth was 1-for-5 with a player advantage. Martin's 38-save showing moved her to 13-3-1 on the season, while Guckian fell to 10-5-0 and made 15 saves on the evening.

The game was the final contest for the St. Lawrence women's hockey team in 2007, as the University heads into the Winter Recess. The Saints will be in action again on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 when they travel to Chestnut Hill , MA to take on 2007 NCAA Semifinalist Boston College in the opening game of a two-game set. The puck will drop on the Saints and Golden Eagles at 4:00pm.