Pesony and St. Lawrence Shutout Elis, 3-0

Feb. 18, 2006

CANTON, N.Y. - Freshman sensation Alec Richards matched St. Lawrence netminder Justin Pesony save-for-save through two periods, but the Saints offense finally broke through the Eli wall in the third and added two late empty netters to earn a 3-0 victory at Appleton Arena in Canton, N.Y.

St. Lawrence (18-12-2, 12-7-1 ECACHL) senior captain Adam Hogg cut to the net at a sharp angle and banked the puck off of Richards' back and into the net to give the Saints a 1-0 lead just 1:16 into the final frame.

It was the fourth straight loss for the Bulldogs and their fifth consecutive conference loss. Meanwhile, the streaking Saints are unbeaten in their last four.

But Hogg's goal failed to rattle Richards, who continued to stonewall the Saints throughout the third period. But the Elis (8-16-3, ECAC 6-12-2) could not solve Pesony, who made nine saves in the third en route to his second career shutout.

With Richards' pulled in the final minute, John Zeiler blocked a Yale shot, skated out of his own zone, and scored his 13th goal. Hogg extended the Saints' lead to 3-0 with 12 seconds left on another empty netter.

Despite no goals, the first period was action-packed. The Elis killed off a 1:36 St. Lawrence two-man advantage after penalties to Robert Page and Matt Cohen. Richards was Yale's most valuable penalty killer, turning away 12 shots in the opening 20 minutes.

Both teams had quality opportunities in the middle frame. St. Lawrence freshman Kevin DeVergilio clanked a shot off the crossbar six minutes into the period and Yale's leading, scorer Jeff Hristovski (10-13-23), had a breakaway with under two minutes to play in the period, but Pesony came up huge with a pad save.

The Elis continued to struggle on the power play, going 0-5 after going 0-4 against Clarkson (16-13-3, 9-9-2) last night. Yale is ranked 10th in the ECACHL on the man advantage. But Yale was stellar on the other half of special teams, killing off seven St. Lawrence man advantages.

The Bulldogs fell to 10th in the conference and are tied with Princeton (9-16-2, 6-12-2) and are one point behind Quinnipiac (16-15-1, 7-12-1). Yale will jockey for ECACHL playoff positioning with the Bobcats and Tigers next Friday and Saturday night at Ingalls Rink in the regular season's final homestand.

Report filed by Sean Singer '06, Yale Sports Publicity