Saints Take Round One

Box Score

POTSDAM, NY -- The No. 6 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team received outstanding performances on both ends of the experience-spectrum on Friday night against No. 9 Clarkson, as senior forward Chelsea Grills tied the University's career power play goal record with the 23rd of her career while rookie defenseman Michelle Zimmerman added a goal and an assist in the Saints' 3-1 win over the Golden Knights in Cheel Arena.

St. Lawrence (20-7-0, 13-2-0) tightened its grip on the No. 2 seed in the standings and improved to 19-0-0 when scoring three or more goals in 2008 and to 7-1-1 against Clarkson in the all-time series. Meanwhile, the Knights' saw their four-game win streak come to an end and fell to 18-6-3 (9-5-1) on the season.

The Scarlet and Brown wasted little time getting on the board against Clarkson, as junior Marianna Locke scored her 12th goal of the season only 1:29 into the contest. Zimmerman sent a crisp pass into the slot for the Brasher Falls, NY native, who quickly turned and fired a low shot that beat Clarkson goalie Eve Grandmont-Berube to put St. Lawrence ahead on its first shot on goal in the game.

Much of the first period reflected the style of play throughout the game, with battles along the board and in the neutral zone for control of the puck. Though Clarkson had the majority of quality scoring chances in the first period, senior goaltender Meaghan Guckian held her own between the pipes, turning back each of the home team's nine bids in the first 20 minutes.

Zimmerman, who hadn't scored a goal since November 3rd, ended her scoring drought with her second goal of the season and second point of the period at 13:22. Rookie forward Kirsten Roach found her fellow classmate at the top of the circle to Grandmont-Berube's left. Zimmerman sent a long wrist shot on goal that seemed harmless, but a screen in front of the Clarkson goal-mouth allowed the puck to go over Grandmont-Berube's glove and put St. Lawrence ahead 2-0 after one period of play.

A key moment in the contest came nearly midway through the second period, as the Saints were whistled for back-to-back minor penalties only four seconds apart, giving the Golden Knights nearly two minutes of a five-on-three advantage. The visitors got great shifts from their penalty killers, including sophomore Courtney Sawchuk, senior Sabrina Harbec and Grills to keep Clarkson off the scoreboard.

Having killed the penalty, the Saints found themselves on the power play less than three minutes later when Clarkson's Jessica Cloutier went sent to the box for cross-checking. After Harbec won the face-off, sophomore Britni Smith launched a long slap shot that Grandmont-Berube stopped, but couldn't reel in. The rebound sat in front of her for several seconds before Grills swung in and lifted the puck under the cross bar for her 12th goal of the season, tying Caroline Trudeau's power play goal mark.

Clarkson showed life less than five minutes into the third period, as they capitalized on a minor penalty to sophomore Tara Akstull and pulled to within 3-1 at 4:57. After taking a pass from Melissa Waldie, Clarkson's leading scorer Britney Selina rifled a slap shot from inside the left circle that went between Guckian's pads for her 13th goal of the season.

Though there had only been six minor penalties called in the first 47:08, the same could not be said for the final portion of the game. The Saints and Golden Knights combined for 11 penalties in just under 13:00 minutes, including a 10-minute misconduct to St. Lawrence Alison Domenico and a 5-minute checking and game-misconduct penalty to Selina. Though there was very little rhythm in the latter half of the period, St. Lawrence was able to settle in and hold off Clarkson to protect their 3-1 victory.

Guckian finished with 22 saves in the contest and improved to 15-7-0, as the Golden Knights out-shot

St. Lawrence 23-18. However, Grandmont-Berube struggled in the contest, making 15 saves and fell to 11-5-3 this season.

St. Lawrence finished 1-of-4 on the power play, while Clarkson was 1-of-5 with the extra skater. Overall, the two archrivals combined for 17 penalties for 53:00 minutes.

There will be little time for the rivalry to simmer, as the Saints and Golden Knights will play the second half of the home-and-home series tomorrow, Saturday, February 2nd at Appleton Arena where the home team has never lost to their Route 11 rival. The puck is set to drop at 7:00pm.