Guckian Earns Career Shutout Record

Nov. 10: Senior goaltender Meaghan Guckian stopped all 23 shots she faced on Saturday and broke the St. Lawrence University record for career shutouts with her 15 th as the No. 5/4 Saints earned a weekend sweep with a 3-0 victory over Rensselaer in Appleton Arena. Senior Chelsea Grills and sophomore Tara Akstull each earned a point, extending their active point-scoring streaks to eight games.

The Saints ( 8-2-0, 4-0-0) played with a very short bench this afternoon, as they were once again without several key players. However, the team showed both grit and determination, as well as solid special teams play, in order to hold off the Engineers (6-4-1, 1-2-1), who leave the North Country without a point in conference play.

Much of the first period was played in the neutral zone without either team able to get many quality chances. Though both teams managed only four shots on goal each in the first period, the Saints made their last one count, as Akstull controlled the puck in her own zone and threaded a perfect pass to Grills, who had cut through center ice and caught Rensselaer on a change. Showing her speed, Grills moved in on a breakaway against RPI goalie Sonja van der Bliek and fired a shot underneath the cross bar over the netminder's shoulder to put the home team on top, 1-0, at 18:09 of the first period.

Rensselaer was given their best scoring chance of the evening in the first minute of the second period.   St. Lawrence sophomore Courtney Sawchuk, who played defense for the first time in her collegiate career on Saturday, and fellow blue-liner Kerri Wallace were given minor penalties only 14 seconds apart, giving Rensselaer a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:46. Though the Engineers manufactured five shots on goal, Guckian made each save while the team got great penalty killing minutes from sophomore Lisa Batchelor, who blocked two shots and worked to clear the puck out of the zone.

The visitors continued to pour on the offense in the second period, out-shooting St. Lawrence 12-4 in the period. Rookie Sydney O'Keefe had another prime chance for RPI as she moved in on a one-on-one with Guckian, but the goaltender made a great play by poke-checking the puck away from the attacker. The Victor, NY native's stellar play between the pipes kept it a 1-0 game heading to the third period.

Only 1:24 into the final period, the Saints netted an insurance goal on the power play, as Wallace took a pass from fellow defenseman Michelle Zimmerman and teed up a long slap shot from the blue line. Though van der Bliek got a pad on the shot, the puck trickled behind her and across the goal line to put St. Lawrence on top, 2-0.

With a 2-0 lead, the Saints' defensive unit tightened the screws and allowed minimal scoring chances on Guckian, who stopped all seven shots she faced in the final period to secure both the victory and the career shut-out record. Junior Carson Duggan scored her 7 th goal of the season at 16:44 of the third period as Rensselaer chose to pull van der Bliek with 3:38 to play in regulation. The goal capped the scoring and gave St. Lawrence a 3-0 ECAC Hockey victory.

"I thought it was a very impressive performance by our team, as we were forced to skate with a short bench tonight," said Saints assistant coach Mare MacDougall. "Meaghan (Guckian) came up big when we needed her tonight, and her consistency throughout her career is evident by capturing the shut-out record against a very talented Rensselaer team."

RPI finished with a 23-15 advantage in shots, but were unable to capitalize on any of their six power play chances. The Saints finished 1-of-3 with the extra skater, and shut out opponents in back-to-back games for the first time since December of 2005.

Akstull's career-long goal-scoring streak came to end at seven games as she failed to score a goal for the first time since October 6th. However, she, along with Grills, senior Sabrina Harbec (4 games), Batchelor (2 games) and Zimmerman (3 games) will all carry active point-scoring streaks into the team's next game, which falls on Friday, November 23rd in Hanover, NH against 2006-07 ECAC Hockey champions, Dartmouth College. The puck will drop on the Saints and Big Green at 7:00pm.