On the fly
Saturday, December 18
Vermont 4 at St. Lawrence 6
Frosh Greg Carey scored two power-play goals – including the game-winner – as the Saints took an early lead and held on in a wild non-conference affair. Senior Nick Pitsikoulis also buried a pair, and rookie Kyle Essery and junior Rick Carden added goals in support of a pair of goalies: junior Joe Spadaccini (starter, seven saves) and rookie Matt Weninger (relief, nine stops). SLU scored twice in seven power-play opportunities to win for the second time in three games.
Colgate 2 at Robert Morris 3 (ot)
The Colonials scored twice on seven power plays to down the Raiders, whose recovery from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits proved to be in vain. Junior Austin Smith and senior Francois Brisebois scored for Colgate, while freshman Eric Mihalik stopped 39 of 42 in defeat.
Union 1 at Western Michigan 2
Freshman Daniel Carr’s second-period power-play goal wasn’t enough to lift the Dutchmen, who scored 14 goals in two games the weekend prior. Sophomore Keith Kinkaid made 17 saves on 19 shots in the first of Union’s four straight western non-conference games.
Sunday, December 19
U.S. Junior Team 3 at Rensselaer 3 (ot)
Exhibition
Colgate 1 at Robert Morris 3
The hard-luck Raiders mustered only a single goal on 41 shots as the Colonials swept the weekend. Senior Brian Day put Colgate ahead 1-0 in the first, but Mihalik’s save rate was decidedly more mortal on Sunday with 24 stops. The result proved to be the Raiders’ third straight loss and 10th in 11 games (1-10-0).
Union 1 at Western Michigan 3
Much like the night before, Union fell into a multi-goal hole where a single strike failed to make up the difference. This time, soph Wayne Simpson was the Dutchmen’s lone scorer while Kinkaid stopped 22 of 25 shots. Union went scoreless on four power plays (and 1/9 on the weekend) as WMU grounded its high-scoring unit. The defeat gave UC its first consecutive losses of the season, as well as the first consecutive games in which the Dutch failed to score multiple goals.
In retrospect…
Prediction precision: Me: 3-2-0 this week (WMU!). 64-31-11 (.656) overall.
Benjamin Davis: 4-1-0. Kudos to the Clarkson kid!
Guest guessers: 42-32-6 (.563)
Head to head: Sullivan 5, Guests 3*
Bring it: [email protected] for your shot.
It’s one of those times of year that my tweets may not be 100 percent college-hockey related. I’ll try my best to at least make them interesting, at SullivanHockey on Twitter.