Jan. 7, 2005

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Defenseman Drew Bagnall had two goals and three assists and forward Stace Page lit the lamp twice as St. Lawrence skated past Yale 6-4 in ECAC men's hockey action before 3,211 at Ingalls Rink.

The Saints (10-9-1, 4-4 ECACHL), who have won three straight, outshot Yale 45-30, including 14-2 in the final period. The disparity in rubber on net was the result of 10 power-play chances, five more than the Elis. SLU, which overcame a 2-0 deficit, converted four of those while Yale had a pair of man-advantage goals.

Early prosperity was a nice change for the Elis, but the two-goal lead less than two minutes into the game evaporated quickly.

Brad Mills took a feed from behind the net and flipped a low shot through Mike McKenna's legs at 1:22 to make it 1-0 for Yale. Just 17 seconds later, Nate Jackson's backhanded rebound in front of the net put the Bulldogs up by a pair, and it looked like it might be an easy day. But that was before the home team began making frequent trips to the penalty box.

St. Lawrence capitalized on its second power-play chance when Bagnall sent a high shot from just inside the blueline past Matt Modelski (39 saves) at 7:53. That was the first of three consecutive goals by the visitors, all with the man advantage.

The Bulldogs had nine of the first 11 shots on goal but the Saints quickly caught up. A one-timer through traffic from the blueline by Bagnall evened it at 2-2 with 1:49 left in the opening frame and they went into the intermission that way.

Fifty-one seconds into the second period, SLU took the lead with a low, one-timer by Page from the right circle and Yale had lost its two-goal cushion for good.

"We take too many penalties and we don't kill enough," said Yale forward Christian Jensen, who had a goal and two assists to lead the Bulldogs. "Our power play is starting to get better, but I think we have graduated to average."

Jensen's low put-back shot found a hole in McKenna (26 saves) to even the score at 2:38 on the power play as things started to get more wild.

SLU jumped back in front 4-3 when Page nailed his second of the night on a low shot that bounced off Modelski's glove at 12:01 of the second.

Once again, the Elis fought back to tie it when Jackson, who tied his career-high with a pair of goals, flipped home another rebound at 17:17 with the man advantage. But only 14 seconds later, Adam Hogg sent a shot from the top of the right circle through traffic and past the Yale goalie to make it 5-4.

The Bulldogs, who managed just two shots on net in the third, had some chances to even the score but a late penalty resulted in a Matt MacDonald (3 points) power-play goal at 18:29 and the game was out of reach.

"We got some penalties that killed us. With the way the penalty kill is going, I think we need to play a penalty-free game," said Yale head coach Tim Taylor. "We jumped on them and came out with a lot of positive energy and speed, but they got better later in the game with what they are good at."

The Bulldogs, skating without the services of injured defenseman Chris Brooks, lost forward Zach Mayer late in the second period with an injury.

Yale is back in action Saturday night at Ingalls to host Clarkson at 7 p.m.

report filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director