Saints Advance to Semifinals With Thrillining OT Win

Box Score

CANTON, NY -- The No. 6 St. Lawrence University women's hockey team advanced to the 2008 ECAC Hockey Semifinals thanks to a thrilling 3-2 win over Yale University in overtime at Appleton Arena on Saturday afternoon. Junior Marianna Locke sent the game into the extra session with a goal at 18:32 of the third period, while fellow classmate Alison Domenico ended the best-of-three series with a goal at 9:42 into the overtime session.

The Saints improved to 27-8-1 (18-3-1) on the season, while Yale, who played an extremely exciting and competitive two games, dropped to 11-14-6 (8-11-4) after letting a 2-0 lead slip away.

The two teams skated to a scoreless first period that saw both teams with chances to take the lead. The best opportunity went to Yale's Caroline Murphy, who earned a breakaway chance on St. Lawrence senior goaltender Meaghan Guckian. However, the Victor, NY native came up with a clutch save to keep the Bulldogs off the board.

The story of the opening 20 minutes was clearly each squad's penalty killing units, as Yale managed to out-chance St. Lawrence on the Saints' two power play chances and St. Lawrence impressively killed off 47 seconds of five-on-three action.

In the regular season between the two teams at Appleton Arena, Yale allowed five second period goals to allow St. Lawrence to earn the victory. Saturday offered a completely different story. Despite being out-shot 18-6 in the second period, the Bulldogs built a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes of hockey.

The Bulldogs broke open the scoring at 7:52 on the power play when a St. Lawrence player coughed up the puck to Yale's Bray Ketchum in the defensive zone. Ketchum sent a pass into the slot to a wide-open Helen Resor, who buried a shot stick-side past Guckian for the 1-0 lead.

Yale then extended their lead to 2-0 when Resor stepped out of the penalty box at 11:37 of the period and flipped a perfect outlet pass to Crysti Howser who had snuck behind the St. Lawrence defense. Howser moved in one-on-one with Guckian, and though the netminder got a piece of the shot, it merely slowed the puck down before going into the net at 13:46 to give the visiting team a 2-0 cushion.

Meanwhile, Yale goaltender Jackee Snikeris matched teammate's Shivon Zilis' performance from Friday night with a spectacular 18 saves in the second stanza.

St. Lawrence, trailing by two for the first time in the series, began to show some urgency in the third period as they peppered Snikeris throughout the frame. The Saints finally solved the goaltender at 8:02 when senior Sabrina Harbec skipped a shot off of Snikeris' pads across the goal crease to fellow classmate Chelsea Grills. The Stittsville, Ontario native slammed the puck into the net and cut her team's deficit in half, 2-1.

With both teams exchanging several scoring chances, the clock began to work against St. Lawrence, as the clock ticked inside of two minutes left in regulation. Ironically, just as Guckian began skating for the bench, senior Kerri Wallace took a pass from Domenico and fired a shot towards the Yale cage. The puck bounced off of a Yale defender's skate in front right to the left post, where Locke was waiting to finish the play and tie the score at 2-2. The goal, which was the Brasher Falls, NY native's 20th of the season, sent the game into overtime for the second straight night.

Much like Friday night's extra session, St. Lawrence held a solid advantage in shots on goal, 9-2 helped by consecutive minor penalties on Yale. However, it wasn't until the second power play ended that the Saints capitalized on another favorable bounce that sent them on to the conference semifinals.

Sophomore Tara Akstull launched a shot on goal that was saved by Snikeris, with the rebound bouncing into the air. Domenico, who skated at the top of the goal mouth, re-directed the puck behind Snikeris and into the goal for her 17th of the season. The goal sent the team spilling on to the ice in celebration of a hard-earned sweep of the Yale Bulldogs.

St. Lawrence finished 0-for-8 with the extra player, while Yale finished 1-for-6 on the power play. The Saints finished with a 49-24 advantage in shots on goal, with Guckian picking up her 22 nd win of the season with a 22 save performance (22-8-1). Snikeris made 46 saves, but dropped to 7-5-3 on the season.

The 2008 ECAC Hockey semifinals will be hosted by the highest remaining seed following the quarterfinals, with Harvard University in the driver's seat. The advancing four teams will begin semifinal action on Saturday, March 8th.