Box Score

CANTON, N.Y. (3/10/07) – In an almost exact replica of the first game of the series, the No. 12 St. Lawrence (22-12-2) hockey team defeated Colgate, 5-1, to complete the ECACHL Quarterfinal sweep of the Raiders (15-21-4) on Saturday, Mar. 10, at Appleton Arena. The top-seeded Saints advance to Albany for the ECACHL Championship, Mar. 16-17, while Colgate’s season comes to an end.

The reigning ECACHL Goaltender of the Year, Colgate junior Mark Dekanich (North Vancouver, B.C.), did not dress for a second straight game. Junior Justin Kowalkoski (Young America, Minn.), who played nearly two periods in the first game of the series, started in his place.

Colgate was awarded the first power play of the night just over a minute into the game, and it had an opportunity to take a 1-0 lead for the second straight night. As the extra-man opportunity wound down, Raider sophomore Peter Bogdanich (Burnaby, B.C.) was stopped by SLU freshman goalie Alex Petizian on a point-blank shot. Petizian came out to between the circles to control the rebound, but the puck popped loose amid a tangle of bodies. Three Raiders and two Saints grappled in front of the net as Petizian scrambled to get back into position, but Colgate couldn’t get the puck to go over the goal line.

The Raiders got the second power play of the night as well, but the Saints were the ones who took advantage of it. With five seconds left in Colgate’s man advantage, the Raiders turned the puck over at the blue line, and senior Andrzej Sandrzyk streaked toward the other end on a shorthanded breakaway. As he neared the net, he switched to his backhand and flipped the puck into the roof of the cage over Kowalkoski’s glove, giving his team a 1-0 lead.

With 5:22 left in the opening period, the Saints went up 2-0. Senior Max Taylor took a shot that went wide to the right of the net, and the puck bounced off the end boards to come just short of the goal line next to the post. Kowalkoski reached his stick back to corral the puck, then passed it to a teammate on the right side. However, sophomore Brock McBride intercepted the pass, and crossed the puck to sophomore Jared Ross at the top of the left circle. Ross’ shot beat Kowalkoski, stick-side.

Colgate’s first penalty of the night led to St. Lawrence’s third goal. With just under two minutes to play in the first frame, sophomore Zach Miskovic sent the Saints into the zone on a 2-on-1 rush. Sophomore Kevin DeVergilio carried the puck in on the right side, and as he reached the hash marks, he crossed it to Taylor, who flipped it over Kowalkoski’s blocker.

The Raiders cut the deficit to two 12:35 into the middle session. Junior Jesse Winchester (Long Sault, Ont.) had the puck at the blue line, and he passed it down to senior Marc Fulton (Vancouver, B.C.) in the right circle. Fulton found sophomore Jason Fredricks (Eagle River, Wis.) coming down the slot, and with the referee’s arm up for a delayed penalty, Fredricks redirected the puck through the five-hole of Petizian.

But the Saints put the game away before the second period came to a close with two goals within the final 2:30. A turnover in the Raider zone gave the puck to freshman Alex Curran, who dished it to DeVergilio. DeVergilio went end-to-end, skated left-to-right in front of the net, then backhanded the puck over Kowalkoski’s outstretched skate.

St. Lawrence earned its fifth goal of the night with 19 seconds left before the second intermission. Off a faceoff to the right of Kowalkoski, DeVergilio won the puck back to Taylor at the left point. He crossed it D-to-D to sophomore Shawn Fensel, who fired through traffic to light the lamp. The Saints outshot Colgate in the second period, 18-4.

St. Lawrence also outshot Colgate in the final period of the game, 8-7, to finish with a 36-23 shot advantage. Kowalkoski finished with 31 saves, while Petizian completed the series sweep after making 22 stops on the night.

Colgate ends its season with a 15-21-4 overall record, after tying the school record for most games played in a season with 40. The quarterfinal loss breaks a three-year streak of semifinal appearances.