Canton, NY: It was another tightly contested hockey game between the Miami RedHawks and St. Lawrence Saints, but this time the Saints emerged with the win, earning a weekend split over their NCHC foe.
Unlike Friday night, St. Lawrence scored the first goal, and also unlike last night, it was the first goal of many for both squads in what was a 5-3 affair in favor of SLU.
First year Jacob Pritchard recorded his first collegiate goal when his shot from the corner was deflected in front of the net. “I just saw the puck and shot it toward the net,” said Pritchard. “By the time I saw the puck in the net, I wasn’t sure what happened.”
Miami evened the odds in the second period off of Chris Joyaux’s goal. Joyaux found himself alone above the faceoff dot, and unleashed a slap shot that beat a screened 16’ Kyle Hayton high on the glove side at the 10:24 mark of the second.
SLU regained the lead quickly, with two goals in twenty-eight seconds roughly five minutes later. Sean McGovern scored off a wrist shot from the high slot. “It was kind of a one on two going in, and I tried to use the defenseman as a screen,” said McGovern. “I don’t think the goalie saw it until it was too late.”
18’ Mike Marnell recorded his first goal of the season twenty-eight seconds later. After 16’ Brian Ward stole the puck and found Marnell in the slot, the sophomore fired a backhander past Ryan McKay for the two goal lead. “We really missed (Marnell) to start,” said Saints coach Greg Carvel. “He sort of embodies the game we want to play.”
15’ Tommy Thompson’s goal five minutes into the third gave SLU a 4-1 lead, but two quick Miami goals brought the Red Hawks within striking distance.
Matt Caito’s power play goal off a tip-in started the sequence, and Alex Gacek followed up with another fifty-two seconds later. Hayton kicked a shot from Louie Belpedio’s shot, but Gacek was there to collect the rebound and narrow the Saints’ lead to one.
Miami pulled McKay to try and even the score, but Marnell recorded his second goal of the game on an empty netter to seal the win for SLU.
“That was a really good game. That’s a complete, or as close to a complete game. I thought we dominated possession at times,” said Carvel. “It got a little to close, when you’re ahead 4-1 you should be able to walk away with it, but they’re a high powered offense. At the end of the day I have a lot of respect for coach Blasi and the program he runs.”
“I think everybody knows who the better team was tonight, it was St. Lawrence,” said Blasi. “They deserved to win. We got ourselves on our heels early, and they deserved to win. That’s a good team over there.