Saints Beat Blue 4-2

CANTON, N.Y. - The St. Lawrence men's hockey team has lost just once this year at Appleton Arena in 11 games. The home advantage continued in a 4-2 ECAC Hockey win despite a comeback by Yale, ranked 5th/6th in the two major polls.

The Elis (11-5-3, 7-3-2 ECAC), who had won three of their last four games, erased an early two-goal deficit by scoring in the first minute of the second and third periods and nearly came away with a three-point weekend.

St. Lawrence (13-8-4, 7-3-2) increased its unbeaten string to four (3-0-1) by reversing a huge momentum shift midway through the final frame and scoring on two solid plays. Equally significant was Kain Tisi (40 saves), named ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Week for the second time last weekend, who blanked the nation's highest scoring team on all five of its power-play chances.

Antoine Laganiere and Mark Arcobello hit the net for the Blue, which beat Clarkson Friday night, and almost enabled the visitors to beat an SLU team that had not lost (7-0-2) when leading after 40 minutes and will likely show up in the new national rankings on Monday.

Yale, which outshot the Saints 42-29, had freshman Jeff Malcolm start in net. He stopped six of eight shots in the opening period before giving way to classmate Nick Maricic, who finished with 25 saves. Both of the SLU goals came at even strength as the home team went 0-for-3 with the extra man.

"I give St. Lawrence a lot of credit, that is a very good hockey team," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach of Hockey. "We played really hard, but we were not as smart as we needed to be in several situations. We have work to do in those areas, and we will start with them first thing in the morning."

The Saints, who outshot the Elis 12-6 in the opening 20 minutes, got on the board at 9:46 of the first when defenseman Matt Raley (1^st goal) one-timed a Jake Klancher crossing back feed. The shot from the top of the left circle went inside the far post.

The Bulldogs found themselves in an early hole when the home team struck again nearly three minutes later. Travis Vermeulen (10^th) took a pass from the boards and skated across to the low slot before flipping a nasty backhander over Malcolm's shoulder at 12:22.

Yale, with a new goalie, re-grouped at the first intermission and found the net right away to cut the margin to 2-1. Chad Ziegler won a draw in the left circle and got the puck to Andrew Miller, who flicked it to the high slot for Laganiere (5^th). The 6-foot-4 freshman winger one-timed a low shot past Tisi at 37 seconds. That was the first of 19 shots on goal in the second for the Bulldogs, who gave up 14 at the other end

Fifty-one seconds into the third period Arcobello (7^th) evened the score by crashing the net for a rebound. Jimmy Martin's shot from the point bounced off a defender and sat in the middle of the slot for the senior forward to pounce on.

All the momentum swung to the visitors, and shots headed for Tisi followed in bunches. The senior netminder weathered the storm long enough and then got a break at the other end to take the 3-2 lead with nine minutes left. While a Yale defender skated without a stick, Nick Pitsikoulis sent a pass from the side boards to the slot for Vermeulen (11^th). The senior SLU center deked and then tucked a backhander for the game-winner.

The Bulldogs answered with more pressure on the Saints, but the Yale defense got caught pinching during a 4-on-4 and the game suddenly slipped away with 1:52 left. Derek Keller broke free along the boards and raced in with a defender two steps behind. Keller tucked a shot stick side for the insurance tally.

Yale returns to Ingalls Rink next weekend for a conference set with nationally ranked Union and Rensselaer, a pair of 7 p.m. contests.

BULLDOG BITES:  Senior SLU goalie Alex Petizian, who stopped 101 Yale shots in three games last year while killing off 15 of 16 power plays, has not played much lately because of his hot classmate...  There were two changes in the Yale lineup from last night other than freshman Jeff Malcolm swapping with classmate Nick Maricic in net. Freshman Josh Balch replaced sophomore Charles Brockett on the line with juniors Jeff Anderson and Brendan Mason, while sophomore Nick Jaskowiak was in for junior Ken Trentowski, the only Yale skater from New York, on the blueline... The Blue is 1-5-3 when trailing after two periods this season... Yale hockey fans are invited to a free Skate with the Bulldogs on Sunday, Feb. 7, from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m.  Fans should bring their own equipment and are invited to take tours of the newly renovated Ingalls Rink.

Report and image filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director