Saints' Game 1 celebration takes a hit

CANTON — A sweet victory for the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team Friday finished on a subdued note.

The fourth-seeded Saints topped No. 7 Quinnipiac, 5-3, in the first game of an ECAC Hockey quarterfinal matchup before a crowd of 1,258 at Appleton Arena. With a win today, SLU (20-11-4 overall) will take the best-of-three series and advance to the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2007.

But what deflated the celebratory moment for St. Lawrence was senior Brock McBride's hit on Quinnipiac defenseman Brett Dickinson with less than four minutes left in the game. McBride checked the Bobcats' sophomore into the boards and was served with a 5-minute boarding penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct.

Dickinson stayed down on the ice for 17 minutes before he was stabilized and taken off on a stretcher. The extent of his injury was not known after the game, but the situation shook up Saints head coach Joe Marsh.

"All I was thinking about was I've had two guys break their necks that played for me," Marsh said. "It just scares the daylights out of you. Hopefully, he's going to be OK. We're not whooping it up over here right now."

Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold was furious on the bench, while Dickinson was down on the ice. After the game, he showed a video clip of McBride's hit to ECAC Hockey Commissioner Steve Hagwell and explained his position.

"He left his feet early," Pecknold said. "He left his feet, like it was an attempt to injure. I was disappointed to have that in our game. He's a good player, but he's a cheap shot. That's what he is."

McBride's shot overshadowed a spectacular performance from his line, which included Kevin DeVergilio and Mike McKenzie. McBride and McKenzie gave St. Lawrence a 2-0 advantage after the first period with goals in transition.

"We haven't played a game in forever, but we're pretty well rested, that helped a lot," McKenzie said. "We tried to keep things simple at the start."

Quinnipiac (18-17-3) responded with efficient puck possession in the second and scrapping for every loose puck. Senior captain Dan Henningson and Mike Atkinson scored to lock up the score at 2-2 through two periods. But SLU's first line struck again to open the third.

DeVergilio rifled a rebound past Quinnipiac goalie Bud Fisher 90 seconds into the period to put the Saints ahead 3-2. Yet, the pesky Bobcats didn't surrender. They dominated an SLU power play halfway through the period, and senior assistant captain Mark Nelson buried the first goal of his career on the short-handed sequence to even the score once more.

"We got a lot of energy off Mark's goal," Pecknold said. "I thought we were doing a great job. St. Lawrence just found a way to win."

On the same power play, Saints captain Shawn Fensel created the team's best chance. He zipped a pass down the center of the ice to freshman Mark Armstrong, who skated in and deposited the game-winner at 12:47.

"In so few games, he's had a big year for us," Marsh said of Armstrong. "He's had some big (goals), too. None bigger than that one."

Zach Miskovic scored on a slap shot to make it 5-3 with less than four minutes to play. But after McBride's sobering penalty, the Saints were down one player for the last 3 minutes, 42 seconds. Quinnipiac pulled Fisher to create a two-man advantage, but couldn't convert.

"We just did a good job of blocking and getting into shooting lanes and getting sticks on it," Marsh said. "We gave them a couple reloads on it. We've got to make sure that thing comes out."

When the puck didn't get out of the zone, SLU goalie Alex Petizian was there to stop it. He kept the team's seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) alive with 20 saves.

"I thought St. Lawrence was the better team tonight," Pecknold said. "I thought they deserved to win. They outworked us."

nNOTES:Saints senior defensemanMatt Generoussat out Friday's playoff opener with a sprained right knee. ... McBride and McKenzie each added two assists. ... Fisher collected 33 saves for the Bobcats.