Saints Skate Past Blue 4-1

Feb. 9, 2007

CANTON, N.Y. - Brock McBride scored two goals and Alex Petizian made 20 saves as the No. 16 ranked St. Lawrence men's hockey team skated past Yale 4-1 at Appleton Arena in ECACHL action.

The Saints' freshman goalie, who faced few tests in seeing nine shots through the first 40 minutes, did not allow the visitors to cash in on any of its seven power-play chances.

At the other end, Yale senior goalie Matt Modelski stopped 23 of 27 shots and allowed just one man-advantage score in six attempts in a game that lacked flow.

The Saints, who had some early chances to grab the lead, including a breakaway by Kyle Rank midway through the first, lit the lamp first at 14:54 of the opening frame. Sean Flanagan, skating into left circle, sent a lead pass toward the right post that Rank (11th goal) reached out and directed past Modelski. Both players were covered by Yale blueliners but the senior SLU center had the quicker reaction to the pass and the goalie had little chance to make the save.

That was the lone goal of the period, though Modelski survived two breakaways, and the home team outshot the visitors 9-4.

SLU made it 2-0 on the same play that brought the first tally, a pass from the left circle to a player rushing the right post. Again the Bulldog defense was caught a step behind. This time it was Jeremiah Cunningham (5th) one-timing a Kevin DeVergilio feed during a 4-on-4 midway through the second.

Yale could have easily gone into the second intermission more than two goals down if not for additional big saves by Modelski, making his second consecutive start.

However, the score became 3-0 just over three minutes into the third when McBride's soft shot from the blueline took a bad bounce and trickled past Modelski. McBride (7th) was just keeping the puck into the zone and was more surprised than anyone that his shot crossed the goal line.

The soft goal opened the flood gates and McBride (8th) made a pretty move for the game's first power-play goal to put the game out of reach. The sophomore winger deked left and got the Eli goalie to go that way before going right and sliding the puck into an open side of the net to make it 4-0 two minutes later.

Freshman left wing Greg Beller (2nd) finally put Yale on the board at 13:25 of the third when he one-timed a feed from Jean-Francois Boucher. The Bulldog center carried into the right circle before sending a lead pass to Beller, who quickly fired it past Petizian's glove.

The first-place Saints did a great job of putting a body or stick on Yale's shooters when they crossed over the SLU blueline. The Bulldogs rarely had a chance to sustain any pressure and they missed the net on too many opportunities.

BULLDOG BITES

Sophomore defenseman David Inman left the game in the first period with an injury... Junior forward Blair Yaworski was knocked out of the game in the second... The Blue suited up six freshmen tonight including the all-rookie line of Chris Cahill, Sean Backman and Mark Arcobello... Yale left New Haven late Thursday morning and practiced at Lake Placid's Olympic Training Center before eating dinner at the OTC dinning hall. Jean-Francois Boucher's father, Gaetan Boucher, competed in the 1980 Olympic Games at Lake Placid as a speed skater... The Elis arrived in Canton at 9 p.m... Appleton Arena is one of the few true "Hockey Barns" left on the Division I circuit. The seating resembles a church pew in venue that is 90 percent wood and gives it a very comfortable and quaint feeling with close views of the action.

Report filed by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director