CANTON, N.Y. — On senior day at Appleton Arena, St. Lawrence took a 3-0 victory from visiting Brown in the final game at Appleton for nine senior Saints and the final game of their career for three Brown seniors.
Both coaches had nothing but praise for their seniors, especially Brown coach Bob Kenneally, who’s first year at the helm of the Bears was a difficult campaign.
“I couldn’t ask for three better people,” said Kenneally. “They were good leaders, but better people. They knew it wasn’t going to be an easy year, but they bought in. They showed leadership on the ice, in the locker room and outside of the rink.”
Brown’s seniors are defenders Alli Rolandelli, Hunter Davis and Kelly Micholson.
“Much like last years class, they’ve created an amazing environment here,” said Saints bench boss Chris Wells. “They’ve carried on a tradition of making good choices and playing good hockey.”
Last-year players for SLU include goalie Mikaela Thompson, forwards Jenna Marks, Abbey McRae, Sydney Bell and Kailee Heidersbach and defenders Amanda Boulier, Dominique Korakianitis, Megan Armstrong and Victoria Leimgardt.
Before the seniors could be honored, a hockey game had to be played and a goal in each period was enough for the Saints to earn the shutout.
Despite it being senior night, it was the younger players who stood out on the stat sheet for the Saints, with Justine Reyes recording two goals, Hannah Miller the third and Grace Harrison recording a shutout.
Reyes tallied her first goal off a deflection at the 5:02 mark of the first period, and she scored again roughly 20 minutes later at the 6:18 mark of the second. She was parked in front of Brown netminder Julianne Landry and picked up her own rebound, sneaking the shot past the pad of Landry.
“My line has had a lot of great chemistry recently, we’ve been making a lot of good plays,” said Reyes. “Boulier just came around the net and found me with the puck, and I was able to get my own rebound.”
The assist to Boulier marked the senior defenders 100th career point. The captain reflected on her career, and the meaning of that statistic, after the win.
“It’s definitely a very special moment — there’s no way I would have rather finished my career at Appleton,” said Boulier. “It’s hard to put into words right now.”
Miller tallied the third goal at the 8:13 mark of the third period, her second of the weekend and 11th of the season. Kennedy Marchment made a strong move down the wing to get the puck on net and Miller was there to collect the rebound.
Harrison finished with 22 saves for the shutout, though Thompson was switched into the game with about three minutes remaining and made the final save of the game.
“I think a lot of it came down to my defense, they’ve been huge in front of me this entire second half,” said Harrison, in typical goalie fashion.
After the game, Kenneally reflected on the final game of his inaugural season.
“I thought we played hard,” he said. “The one thing this team never did, even with a tough go of it in terms of wins and losses, was give up.”
Wells also reflected on the game ahead of the playoffs, where the Saints will travel to Princeton.
“We really stuck to it,” said Wells. “We had some good chances, and so did Brown, but Grace made some good saves. The kids were able to get some good pace. I don’t think we started off fantastic, but we were able to settle in.”
