March 12, 2011
St. Lawrence Stuns Yale in ECAC Quarterfinal Opener
by Adam Wodon/Web Editor
St. Lawrence continued its roll through the playoffs, getting a dramatic win at Yale as the ECAC quarterfinals got started Friday.
St. Lawrence, which is the No. 11 seed in the ECAC Tournament, knocked off Princeton last week after losing Game 1, and now has won three straight. Yale is the No. 2 seed in the tournament, but is No. 1 in the Pairwise, which is the system that the NCAA uses to pick teams for the NCAA Tournament.
After going 15-0-1 during the regular season at home, Yale blew a 3-1 lead. The Saints stumbled into the postseason, but are riding the hot hand of freshman Greg Carey. He scored the game-tying goal late in the third, on a power play, then won it with his 23rd goal of the season 16:28 into OT.
“It was a 2-on-2 that turned into a 2-on-1. Our defense over-reacted to the puck carrier and left a guy wide open in front of the net,” said Allain. “The game was lost in the second period when we had a number of opportunities to make the lead bigger and couldn’t.”
Carey credited a great setup from Kyle Flanagan, after SLU had Yale running around a bit in its own end.
"It was an unbelievable pass," Carey said. "I couldn't believe it when it got through. I was surprised when it came to me. ... That puck somehow found its way under (Yale goalie Ryan Rondeau)."
Matt Weninger made 31 saves for the Saints, and now has won three straight playoff games.
"He stood on his head," Carey said. "He stopped maybe three, four breakaways, which is bad from a defensive standpoint for us, but it's great we have him back there."
Elsewhere, Cornell took a 1-0 series lead from Quinnipiac. The Big Red got an early goal from Joe Devin (14), then was heavily outplayed the rest of the first period, but only allowed one goal.
Once the second period began, Cornell calmed down -- particularly once a 5-on-3 (for a full two minutes) was killed off. From there, Cornell got three straight power plays, and finally scored -- again from Devin -- after the last one.
The Big Red were whistled for four straight penalties in the third period, but killed them all off.
And Union knocked off No. 12 seed Colgate in Game 1, 4-1. Colgate upset RPI in last weekend's first-round series.
In Atlantic Hockey, RIT rolled to a Game 1 win over American International, 5-0. A four-goal outburst in the third period sealed this one for RIT, including Tyler Brenner's 25th goal of the season.
Also, six different players scored as Holy Cross took Game 1 from Canisius. “It was a pretty even hockey game tonight where Holy Cross just created a couple more chances and was able to capitalize on them,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “We need to be a little better in a couple of areas if we want it to go our way tomorrow.”
