CANTON, N.Y. — In what can only be described as a battle of special teams, Miami edged St. Lawrence 1-0 on a Jack Roslovic power-play goal during a penalty-filled game that took less than two hours to complete.
The first period saw no scoring and a relatively even pace of play, while the second period was anything but normal.
A myriad of penalties and a lot of chippiness made it quite interesting before the lone goal came on a controversial Miami power play.
Sean Kuraly drove hard to the Saints net down the right wing and slipped a pass to Roslovic, who made no mistake at the 4:52 mark.
“Anthony Louis made a grat play on the wall, chipped the puck to Sean,” explained Roslovic. “He made his own room and drove to the net, I just waited and put it home when I got the chance.”
Both teams had more power plays after, but neither could capitalize.
For Saints coach Greg Carvel and SLU netminder Kyle Hayton, the penalty that resulted in the Miami power play was a missed call as Hayton felt that he was interfered with on the goal. The goal was reviewed, but upheld.
Like the first, the third period saw no scoring, but in one instance, St. Lawrence had a 5-on-3 opportunity for just over a minute, but Miami was able to escape unblemished.
“Generally, whoever wins the 5-on-3 battle, if there is one, wins the game,” said Miami netminder Ryan McKay.
McKay finished with 26 saves for the shutout, several of which came during that crucial penalty kill.
“It’s better than facing no shots at all,” said McKay on the busy night. “That’s the nature of the position, you just gotta keep your head in it.”
Hayton recorded 25 in the losing effort for St. Lawrence.
“I think we hustled hard and had an overall good game,” said Hayton. “We have to capitalize on our chances. You won’t get many against a team like Miami.”
“I thought it was a real good hockey team between two evenly-matched teams,” added Carvel. “I thought the referees were too involved with the game, and it’s tough to lose on a power-play goal off a penalty that never really happened.”
On the special teams battle, Carvel was blunt, saying, “They scored on a power play and we didn’t. That’s the difference.”
“The pace was pretty fast, both ways,” said Blasi. “Both goalies played really well. We made one play on the power play. Obviously, we blocked a lot of shots, which helps your power play.”
Blasi also emphasized the growth of his team, which has played much better since a season-opening loss to Providence.
“Any time you come into this building and get a win its big, but we need to refocus and get ready for another less-than-two-hour game tomorrow night,” Blasi said.
