CANTON, N.Y. — Following a 3-1 win over Rensselaer Friday night, St. Lawrence forward Christian Horn attributed the teams success to a simple strategy.
“If there’s one thing that coach [Greg] Carvel preaches to us, its playing hockey the right way,” Horn said.
Playing hockey the right way earned Horn the game-winning goal and St. Lawrence its sixth straight win.
While Horn’s goal stood as the game-winner, it was Alex Dahl who got the scoring started for the Saints. After a pair of dekes by Nolan Gluchowski, Dahl found himself with the puck to the right of RPI goalie Jason Kasdorf. He flipped a backhand shot past Kasdorf to give the Saints the 1-0 lead 5:54 into the first.
“Gluchowski made a nice play and my linemates were screening the goalie,” said Dahl. “I got left wide-open.”
Horn’s goal came roughly six minutes later. He jumped on the ice after a line change and picked off a pass from an RPI defenseman. He skated down the slot and beat Kasdorf high on the glove side.
“I was lucky enough to be there and pick it up,” said Horn. “Luckily enough, the goalie gave me glove-side.”
RPI coach Seth Appert knew his team had work to do after the first being down 2-0.
“That’s not a recipe for success in the ECAC in February, getting down earlier and having to fight back,” he said.
Despite the deficit, RPI cut the lead to one in the second period. Matt Neal found his way behind the St. Lawrence defense and on a breakaway, beating Kyle Hayton high glove to cut into St. Lawrence’s lead.
The third period saw just one goal, from Mike Marnell, who increased St. Lawrence’s lead to 3-1. Horn made a pass from below the red line that Marnell snapped past Kasdorf on the blocker side to give the Saints the two-goal lead.
The Saints held on for the win and the second place spot in the ECAC.
Appert credited St. Lawrence with outworking the Engineers.
“I thought St. Lawrence’s competitive edge,” Appert said. “The nasty compete level was the difference in the game tonight.”
Much like Appert, Carvel felt his team played well enough to earn the victory.
“I thought we deserved to win tonight,” said Carvel. “I thought it was a good sign with our group that we regrouped after the second and I thought the third period was real good. It was a good, solid win.”
“This feels good,” added Horn. “It’s fun for us. A lot of people in the college hockey world have been doubting us, saying we have a hot goalie, and we do, but they can say what they want and we’ll just keep playing hockey the right way.”
