On senior night at Appleton Arena, the St. Lawrence Saints skated to a 6-3 win over Dartmouth, clinching the second seed in the ECAC tournament and a first-round bye.
After the game, Saints coach Greg Carvel was all smiles for his team and his four seniors.
“I couldn’t be happier for this team,” said Carvel. “This team has made me real proud all year long.”
On senior night, it was first-year Christian Horn who opened the scoring for his team. He skated down the left wing and got separation with burst of speed before rising a wrist shot past Charles Grant at the 10:12 mark of the first.
Sophomore Woody Hudson put the Saints up by two four minutes later, capitalizing on a rebound off a Nolan Gluchowski shot, tapping the puck home on the far post.
After the quick burst of scoring, no one was able to beat either goalie until there was seven seconds left in the second. On a play Carvel called a blown call by the refs, a play that may have been offside resulted in Rick Pinkston beating Kyle Hayton five-hole to narrow the St. Lawrence lead to one.
After regrouping in the intermission, the Saints rode Hudson’s second goal of the game to a 3-1 lead before Joe Sullivan scored the game-winning goal. Dartmouth carried the puck out of its zone, but the drop pass was intercepted by Sullivan, who walked in on the left side and squeezed a wrist shot past Grant at the 10:28 mark.
Dartmouth was not ready to succumb to SLU yet. Despite the three-goal deficit, Bob Gaudet’s team got within two on Pinkston’s second goal of the night, a wrist shot from above the left circle that beat Hayton over the blocker.
“I didn’t think we played poorly; we had some injuries that we hope to get back, but we lost to a good team,” said Gaudet.
Tommy Thompson scored an unassisted goal on a partial breakaway, despite falling down, to give the Saints the 5-2 lead. Nick Bligh’s power-play goal again brought Dartmouth within two with 1:13 left, but Mike Marnell’s empty-net goal sealed the win for St. Lawrence.
After his final regular season game at Appleton Arena, Justin Bruckel was pleased with the way the Saints worked, including his line.
“Both goals for Woody were just great goals by our line,” said Bruckel. “Those were gritty goals, and that’s the type of line we are.”
After the win, the sixth straight at home for SLU, Carvel complimented his squad for their year-long efforts.
“We’re 32 games into the season, and the one thing about this team is, we’re consistent, We play hard every night.”
With the playoffs looming, Carvel says his team has their sights set on Lake Placid after wrapping up a first-round bye and home ice.
“It would be nice for this program to get back to competing for a championship.”
