Not to gloat or anything, but if you scroll down to my pre-Harvard prediction, I said the Saints would take it, 3-2. Guess what? They did.

So I'll bask in my own glory for a while on that.

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Game recap

BOSTON — St. Lawrence's senior goalie Alex Petizian stopped a career-high 42 shots as the Saints downed Harvard, 3-2, in men's ECAC Hockey at the Bright Hockey Center on Friday.

Sophomore defenseman Pete Child gave the Saints the eventual game-winning goal when he scored his fourth of the season on a shot from the point at 4 minutes, 9 seconds of the third period. Aaron Bogosian set up the play, winning a face-off and finding Child at the blue line. Child's slap-shot score gave the Saints a 3-1 edge at the time.

Alex Killorn snuck one by Petizian at 8:35 of the third to pull the Crimson to within 3-2. Killorn sent a wrister just inside the left post after the puck was deflected in front on a power play.

Petizian later stuffed Killorn on a point-blank chance and came up with several more stops — 13 total in the third period — to keep the Saints in front. Petizian's previous career high was 40 saves in a 3-1 win over Princeton last season.

The Saints killed the final two minutes of regulation, while Harvard pulled its goalie for the extra attacker. The Saints defense, however, kept the Crimson from scoring the equalizer.

The Saints scored the only goal of a fairly even first period, despite Harvard taking four penalties in the frame. George Hughes scored on a power play 9:20 into the game. It was the first of his career and was assisted by Travis Vermeulen and Alex Curran.

Crimson senior Michael Biega pulled Harvard even in the second period with a power-play goal at 8:33. His shot squeezed inside the far post just after a faceoff in the Saints zone. It was his third of the year.

The Saints regained the lead less than four minutes later on yet another power play. Hughes started the play with a shot from the point. Harvard goalie Kyle Richter deflected it. Curran fired another shot in, and again Richter deflected it. Vermeulen grabbed the rebound and scored on a third-chance effort — and his third of the year — to put the Saints ahead 2-1.

The Crimson (1-4-1 overall) nearly tied it again late in the second with SLU's Brandon Bollig in the penalty box. Only 10 seconds into the penalty, Harvard thought it got one past Petizian. The red light signaled a goal, but after the officials conferred, waved off the goal. The Crimson gave up Child's game-winner before scoring its final goal.

Harvard dominated the shots-on-goal, 44-28, but Petizian's career night ruined the Crimson's home opener. Petizian stopped 12 shots in the first, 17 in the second and 13 in the third.

St. Lawrence (7-4-1, 3-2 ECACHL) plays at Dartmouth at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Notes

Jared Keller did return tonight.

Still no Sean Coffey.

Mike McKenzie picked up a 10-minute major penalty after a scrum in front of the net in the third period. A Harvard player ended up with his helmet pulled off. McKenzie was the only one penalized.

Nike Pitsikoulis and Aaron Bogosian moved up to the first line in place of injured forward Kyle Flanagan and Jeremiah Cunningham.

Around the ECAC

St. Lawrence 3, Harvard 2

Clarkson 3, Dartmouth 2

Quinnipiac 5, Colgate 3

Cornell 5, Princeton 2

Just a few hours away from game time, so I guess it’s time to write up a little ditty of a game preview.

St. Lawrence should beat Dartmouth, but Harvard is a different beast. The New England swing has not been particularly kind to the Saints in the last few years.

Last season, St. Lawrence managed one win in four games against Dartmouth and Harvard. The win, of course, came at home. The Saints also managed a tie at home. They were swept on the road.

The year before that, the Saints were swept at home, but won both games away.

You have to go back to 2006-07 to find the last time St. Lawrence won three out of the four regular season games. Back then, the Saints went 4-0.

What does all this mean for the weekend? That the ECACHL is a tough league and even these games, where Harvard and Dartmouth have a combined one conference win, will be difficult.

Harvard has been uncharacteristically quiet to start the year. The Crimson have only downed Dartmouth in the ECAC and have been outscored 22-11 collectively in conference.

What the Saints have going for them is poise under pressure. Almost all their wins are the come-from-behind sort, so trailing by one or even two goals doesn’t seem to bother them.

I expect a close win against Harvard, 3-2.

Dartmouth should be a little easier. The Big Green can’t score. It hasn’t been shutout yet, but haven’t scored more than two goals since its 5-3 loss to Harvard on Oct. 30. Against the Big Green, teams are thriving. They’re scoring nearly four goals per game. St. Lawrence should win it easily, 5-2.

The only equalizer is the starting forwards for the Saints. Jeremiah Cunningham and Kyle Flanagan are both out for the weekend. Jared Keller should be back, although there isn’t confirmation on that.

Who is going to fill in for Cunningham and Flanagan? Last week, it was Nick Pitsikoulis and Brandon Bollig. Assistant coach Bob Prier said Aaron Bogosian might move up and play there too, which would add speed to the front line.

This is an important weekend against two teams that St. Lawrence can and should beat. The puck drops at 7 p.m. tonight.

Running in the newspaper tomorrow is a story about Mike McKenzie and his father, Bob. The story discusses Bob's book, "Hockey Dad: True Confessions from a (Crazy?) Hockey Parent."

Bob Graham will be signing his book, "Go Saints!" on Dec. 5 at the Brewer Bookstore.

Links Galore:

Harvard Game Notes (PDF)

Dartmouth Game Notes (PDF)

ECAC Links

Clarkson Blog

Cornell hockey blog (Through the Ithaca Journal)

ECAC hockey

USCHO.com

Drew Weaver is the latest subject of the "Get to Know a Saint" series. He had some interesting insights on a few of the other videos and players.

Other "Get to Know a Saint" features:

Brandon Bollig

Mike McKenzie

Mark Amrstrong

Kyle Flanagan

Aaron Bogosian

USCHO.com Rankings

St. Lawrence lost two major offensive contributors this weekend.

Freshman forward Kyle Flanagan injured his right shoulder during the third period against Union on Friday. He will likely be out until the Clarkson series on Dec. 4.

Senior forward Jeremiah Cunningham fractured one of his ribs, but could be back as early as this weekend, although he will not be skating today in practice.

Freshman Sean Coffey missed another weekend of games as he continues to recover from bronchitis and the flu. He is feeling better – and has for two weeks – but the effect the illnesses had on his lungs still lingers.

Other than that, no new news to report. The coaches agreed that St. Lawrence played its most complete game of the season in its 2-1 win over RPI on Saturday. They said from the third period of the Union game through the end of the RPI, St. Lawrence was the strongest its been all year.

Kyle Flanagan injured his right shoulder and will miss at least the game with RPI tonight. He left during the third period of St. Lawrence's 4-3 loss to Union on Friday night.

I will not be covering the hockey game tonight. I have been assigned to cover the General Brown high school state football quarterfinal game in Binghamton.

I will post some updates on St. Lawrence on Sunday.

Third Period notes

Derek Keller GOAL SLU

Penalty on Union: Trabucco

5 minutes left and two goals down. Kyle Flanagan memories?

Bollig plays with a lot of emotion, and seems to have sparked the Saints here.

Goal SLU: Bollig (Vermeulen, Hughes), 13:00

Penalty killed.

Penalty on Bollig after a hard hit

Back to even strength. Saints 0-for-4 tonight on power plays.

William Lyons an assistant referee was hit on a clear and had to leave.

Finally a penalty against Union. It is the first since the first period. 4-on-4 for one minute.

Another SLU penalty, this one on Bollig. It is the seventh consecutive penalty against the Saints.

St. Lawrence just isn't getting good opportunities, plain and simple.

Penalty killed

SLU penalty: Kyle Flanagan - 11 seconds into the period.

Kain Tisi starts in net for the Saints.

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Second Period impressions

St. Lawrence did not play well that period. The momentum accrued from killing the 5-on-3 advantage wasted away after picking up three successive penalties. The Saints gave away two power play goals in the frame and totaled four penalties.

Union, meanwhile, even when even handed, is controlling the puck, getting lots of zone time, and pretty much dominating the play in this game. St. Lawrence trails by three goals, but if we've all learned one thing this year, it's that the Saints don't give up. Three goals will be difficult, especially when they're consistently out shot. In the second period, Union won the shot total, 13-6.

Box score

First Period: 1, Union, Matheson (Zajac, Yanovitch), 7:39.

Second Period: 2, Union, Trabucco (Schreiber, Stuart), 3:57 (pp); 3, SLU, Curran (Bollig, Vermeulen), 5:06; 4, Union, Yanovitch (Walters, Shaffer), 10:22; 5, Union, Zajac (Trabucco, Scheiber), 15:36 (pp).

Second Period Notes

St. Lawrence getting almost no zone time. They're giving the puck away and getting destroyed on shots. I'll have the update at the end of the period.

Goal Union: 11 seconds into the power play Zajac with the score

Penalty on SLU: D. Keller

Union Goal off a 2-on-1 breakaway: Yanovitch

St. Lawrence isn't winning ANY faceoffs

Penalty killed: momentum?

Petizian a master on the 5-on-3: four huge saves.

SLU penalty: Raley -- SLU down 5-on-3 for 53 seconds

SLU penalty: Torney

SLU Goal: Alex Curran off a rebound in front

Trabucco scores on a power play for Union

Penalty on SLU - Torney out for 2-minutes: hooking

Underway

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First Period impressions

St. Lawrence recovered nicely to end the period and appears to be skating even with the Dutchmen. So far, just the lone goal scored by Brock Matheson on a deflection.

The Saints continue to struggle on the power play, going 0-for-3 in the first period. They did kill one, albeit a 8-second penalty after an overlap. It is apparent that St. Lawrence headed Marsh's advice to take more shots during a power play. The only problem is that the rebounds aren't going their way, and Union is taking them back up the ice.

The questions for Union will be how their legs hold up. St. Lawrence is taking shorter shifts, while Union has the same players on the ice longer. This game is shaping up to be another third-period showdown.

Scoring

First Period:1, Union, Matheson (Zajac, Yanovitch), 7:39.

Goalies: Union, Kinkaid (8 shots-8 saves); SLU, Petizian (10-9).

First Period Notes

I think Union is playing a little more aggressive and is controlling the tempo of this game here through the first period.

Penalty killed. 5-on-5 now. St. Lawrence having trouble keeping control of the puck.

Saints can't take advantage of the 5-on-3 or 4-on-3 back to even strength now. 4-on-4

Saints give the penalty right back: Bollig heads to the box. 4-on-3 for SLU for 33 seconds

Saints 5-on-3 for 40 seconds: McKenzie tripped.

Saints on the Power play: Jason Shaffer for interference.

Union Goal: Brock Matheson 7:39

Nice save by Union's Kinkaid on a Vermeulen shot.

Saints taking more shots on the power play but can't get one through. Penalty killed.

Penalty on Union's Jon Lareau - interference. SLU PP.

Couple shots deflected. Both teams skating hard and fast.

We are underway.

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I just arrived to the freezing Appleton Arena. All the fans are on right now and I can barely feel my fingers enough to type. But enough about me.

Here are your starters:

Union

Forwards: Jeremy Welsh (2 goals-3 assists), Jason Walters (2-4), Mario Valery-Trabucco (3-7).

Defensemen: Mike Wakita (0-2), Greg Coburn (1-2).

Goalie: Keith Kinkaid (0-1-0 overall)

SLU

Forwards: Kyle Flanagan (4-7), Jeremiah Cunningham (2-6), Mike McKenzie (3-6).

Defensemen: Jeff Caister (1-3), Derek Keller (3-3).

Goalie: Alex Petizian (1-2-2).

Officials:

Refs: Nick Litterio, Dean Gilbert; Assistants: Michael Pleau, William Lyons

Notes:

Jared Keller will sit out tonight's game as he recovers from a concussion he suffered last weekend.

Sean Coffey will continue to sit out while he recovers from the flu and bronchitis.

Union has played in a school record four straight overtime games. The Dutchmen haven't won one of them.

St. Lawrence leads the all-time series with a 33-16-2 record.

St. Lawrence is 3-2 in the last five meetings.

Although early in the year, the games against Union and RPI this weekend will be critical for positioning in the league. A team has to win its home games, and St. Lawrence is pretty good in its own barn.

That said, Union and RPI are no pushover teams.

“(Union) just goes out and plays,” St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh said. “They're tough to play against. They're always tough to play against. It's pretty hard to catch them on a bad night.”

Marsh added that he couldn't recall the last easy win St. Lawrence had against Union.

The numbers show St. Lawrence has one five of the last six meetings. Its last loss came two years ago.

“I think they're one of the teams that, in a lot of ways, maybe are a lot like us,” Marsh said. “They don't spend a lot of time marketing themselves. They're very consistent.”

RPI, however, is on a tear early. The Engineers swept Yale and Brown at home. The win against Yale was a particular surprise considering Yale's top-15 ranking at the time. They will be at Clarkson first.

Two wins this weekend will give St. Lawrence some confidence heading back on the road for the next three weeks. The Saints won't return home until Dec. 4 when it plays a weekend home-and-home series with Clarkson. Then, it's back on the road again until Jan. 15.

SAINTLY WOES

Marsh harped on a few things this week in practice. Namely, St. Lawrence needs to have better scoring efforts on the power play. The Saints went an excruciating 1-for-19 on the man advantage last weekend.

“We've got to get pucks to the net and get second and third chances,” Marsh said. “I think we're trying to be a little too precise.”

The Saints are spending too much time setting up plays and finessing the puck than firing shots in. The one power-play goal they did score last weekend came via a rebound. That needs to happen more this weekend.

Also, the Saints have to stay out of the box. They're averaging nearly 13 penalty minutes per game, and are killing only 80 percent of power plays. Those numbers won't add up to a ton of wins as St. Lawrence travels deeper in to league play.

BROTHERLY LOVE

A story will appear in tomorrow's Watertown Daily Times in which I detail the history (in a fun and exciting way, of course) of St. Lawrence and its striking tendency to bring in brothers. Can you guess how many sets of brothers played together while at St. Lawrence? I mean brothers that played in the same year with each other, not brothers that were a generation of hockey players apart. Leave your guess in the comments!

Read the story

Several players are still dealing with groin tightness and strains, although few are expected to miss this weekend's games.

Sean Coffey is still suffering during his recovery from the flu and bronchitis. He said he tried to skate on Monday, but immediately grew winded and had to stop. He's hoping by next week, he will be able to go.

Jared Keller will be out this weekend as he recovers from the concussion he received last weekend.

Other news:

Mike McKenzie's father, Bob, will be holding a book signing on Saturday at the St. Lawrence University bookstore. His book is titled, “Hockey Dad: True Confessions of a (Crazy?) Hockey Parent.” The book signing is at 1 p.m.

I will have a full preview with quotes and extras late tonight/tomorrow morning.

Here is the latest episode in the "Get to Know a Saint" series. This week, I sat down with Brandon Bollig, St. Lawrence's sophomore forward.

Other "Get to Know a Saint" features:

Mike McKenzie

Mark Amrstrong

Kyle Flanagan

Aaron Bogosian

St. Lawrence senior forward Mike McKenzie was recently featured on the radio program "College Hockey All-Access." The show originally aired on Saturday, but is available for download online here. McKenzie's interview starts at the 40-minute mark.

Here is McKenzie's "Get to Know a Saint" feature.

If you'd like to be added to the mailing list and be alerted each time a new entry is posted, send an e-mail with the subject line "Add me to the list" to dcassavaugh@wdt.net

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What to make of the weekend?

St. Lawrence defeated Princeton, 5-2, but was spanked by Quinnipiac 5-2.

Against Princeton, everything was working well for the Saints. Alex Petizian was stopping every shot, and the Saints even scored a short-handed goal.

That evaporated against the Bobcats. Robby Moss started in net and took a beating, especially in the second period.

Moss surrendered four goals in the frame, including two power plays. In fact, the penalty kill was the worst it’s been all year. The Saints gave up three power-play scores, killing just three.

Meanwhile, Quinnipiac couldn’t stay out of the box. St. Lawrence’s special teams are definitely a concern at this stage.

The Saints scored on just one of 20 power plays this weekend. Its opponents went 4-of-12. St. Lawrence must figure out a way to score more consistently on the power play. This season, St. Lawrence is converting barely 17 percent of power plays and killing penalties at less than 80 percent.

The Saints didn’t score well on the power play last year either, finishing the season at 17.6 percent. It did, however, kill penalties at near 90 percent. That difference could be in the youth and inexperience of the defense.

The Saints are struggling to control the puck in their own zone, and opposing teams will start to get more aggressive against it soon.

The Saints are sixth or seventh in the conference in every special teams category.

My guess is coach Joe Marsh will continue to harp on puck control and taking advantage of power plays. The Saints may not have beaten Quinnipiac had it been better there, but they wouldn’t have very found themselves down 4-0 at any point.

Now, the good news. St. Lawrence split in its first ECAC weekend. The Saints were the only ECAC road team to win a game at all this weekend, so that’s a positive. Union tied Yale and Brown in a bit of a surprising start to its season.

Clarkson was swept.

I think it’s a positive to come out of the weekend 1-1, especially against Princeton (the nations 19th ranked team) and Quinnipiac, which is now No. 20 after a 6-1 start.

Ahead for St. Lawrence is Union and RPI at home.

NOTES:

Kyle Flanagan leads the conference is points by a rookie, and is third overall in the ECAC.

Flanagan is also tied for the conference lead in game-winning goals with two.

Peter Child leads the ECAC in scoring by a defenseman. He has seven points. Derek Keller is second with six.

PRINCETON, NJ — The St. Lawrence University men's hockey team overcame some early penalties to run away with a 5-2 win over No. 14 Princeton University in the first ECAC Hockey game of the season for both teams on Friday at Hobey Baker Rink.

Princeton jumped out early, scoring just 2 minutes, 45 seconds into the game. St. Lawrence committed three penalties in the opening frame and attempted 10 less shots than the Tigers.

The Saints even had a chance to tie the score, but failed to convert on a 5-on-3 advantage near the end of the first.

That changed in the second period as St. Lawrence settled. Mike McKenzie started the scoring with a goal at 8:23 of the second. Jeremiah Cunningham and Kyle Flanagan picked up the assists.

The Saints caught a break five minutes later when Max Mobley scored a short-handed goal while Peter Child was in the box. Jacob Drewiske got the assist. It was the first short-handed goal of the season and Mobley's first career goal.

Aaron Bogosian scored his first goal of the year at 17:03 — going blue line to blue line — to give the Saints a 3-1 advantage heading into the third period.

The three goals are the most by the Saints (5-2-1 overall, 1-0 ECAC) in one period so far this season.

The scoring continued only two minutes into the final session for St. Lawrence. Jared Keller scored the Saints' fourth consecutive unanswered goal and the game-winner with assists from Bogosian and Jake Klancher. It was Keller's second of the year.

St. Lawrence gave one back at 16:03 on a power play. Princeton's Tyler Beachell scored from Jody Pederson and Taylor Fedun.

Then, in a questionable move, Princeton pulled its goalie with nearly three minutes to play and down 4-2. The Saints benefited from the move instead.

Alex Curran scored on an empty net at 17:31 of the third to cap St. Lawrence's scoring.

Goalie Alex Petizian finally got his first win after giving away a two-goal cushion last weekend and settling for a tie. He made 32 stops. Zane Kalemba had 25 saves and allowed all four goals for Princeton (1-2-1, 0-1).

---

NOTES:

Jacob Drewiske finally returned and had a decent night with an assist.

Aaron Bogosian scored his first goal of the year and picked up an assist as well.

Max Mobley had his first career goal.

Mike McKenzie now has 86 career points.

SLU plays Quinnipiac at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

---

Around the ECAC

Quinnipiac defeated Clarkson, 4-2

Cornell beat Dartmouth, 5-1

RPI beat Yale in a shocker, 5-2

Union and Brown tied at 3-3

Colgate came from behind to beat Harvard, 5-4.

It looks like St. Lawrence is the ONLY team to win on the road Friday night. Not even the mighty Yale could do it.

Read the weekly College Hockey Notes

Princeton/Quinnipiac Preview

Well, this isn't so much a preview about the Tigers and Bobcats as a preview about what St. Lawrence needs to do to come out with a split or sweep.

Coach Joe Marsh made it very clear what he wants to see improved.

“We cannot repeat consistently what's going to hurt us, specifically penalties,” he said. “Those things we can really kind of clean up our act a little bit and be a much better, much more efficient team.”

St. Lawrence has had more penalties than its opponent in ever game this season.

“It's just ridiculous,” Marsh said. “We're not the type of team that can survive that.”

The Saints are spending 12.6 minutes in the box per game. They had eight penalties against Sacred Heart last Saturday alone, and five of them were in the third period when they allowed three goals.

“Even if you get all the kills, they're getting zone time; they're handling the puck more, and they're getting confidence,” Marsh said. “We just have got to get better in that.”

Princeton doesn't have this problem. The Tigers spend nine minutes in the box on average, through their first two games. They're disciplined and can take advantage of mistakes.

All three of Princeton's goals have come via the power play.

“We have to learn from these first six games and apply it,” Marsh said. “We have to concentrate on basic fundamentals.”

That's true for the Saints against Quinnipiac as well. The Bobcats take a lot of shots and score a lot of goals. This season alone, Quinnipiac is scoring four goals per game through its first five contests.

“I think we need to do a better job with our front line defense in our own end, particularly blocking shots,” Marsh said. “(Sacred Heart) got three shots right down the pipe. Our forwards have to do a better job getting in front, and if they're not blocking shots, they're certainly discouraging the shot from every being taken.”

The question still lingers about who exactly is the starting goalie. Marsh has maintained it's Alex Petizian still, but Robby Moss at 3-0 with a 93 save percentage has made a good push for time.

“I know I haven't picked up a win yet,” Petizian said. “But the last game, I felt I played pretty well. I needed that last game to kind of get it under my belt. Whoever is in there, I just hope we win.”

Princeton is ranked 14th nationally, and Quinnipiac narrowly missed the list after making it the week before. St. Lawrence didn't receive a vote this week, and were picked to finish 10th in the ECAC by the coaches.

Really?

Really.

-

Links round-up

Quinnipiac Game Notes (PDF)

Princeton Game Notes (PDF)

Pete Child recently recorded a hat trick and his first career goal in the same game. I sat down with him for an extended interview to find out how he got to St. Lawrence, the intense workouts he endured to make a push for more playing time and what it's like to still not know if he's going to play in a game.

A story will also appear in the Watertown Daily Times on Friday.

Here's the interview:

Mike McKenzie is the latest subject in the "Get to Know a Saint" feature.

So far, we've gotten to know: Mark Armstrong, Kyle Flanagan and Aaron Bogosian. Check the blog archive for those videos.

Follow Mike McKenzie on Twitter

Conference play begins this weekend for just about everyone. Here is my breakdown of each team in the league.

If you would like to be notified via e-mail when a new entry is posted, send an e-mail with the subject line "Add me to the list" to dcassavaugh@wdt.net. Follow me on twitter: twitter.com/SLUHockey. Follow Saints forward Mike McKenzie on Twitter: twitter.com/MikeMcKenzie11.

Scouting the ECAC

Brown

The Bears waited until this weekend to start play… at all. Most teams have five or six games under their belt before league play starts. Not the Bears. Brown is 0-1, losing 1-0 in overtime on Friday to Princeton in a nonconference game. The near shutout is promising, but there are plenty of offensive issues to address. For starters, the top returning goal-scorer is Aaron Volpatti. He had six goals all last season. That's right, six. That was still 10 percent of the team's total offense. Brown has work to do and will likely finish at or near the bottom just like last year. The Bears ended 2008-09 5-23-5 overall and 3-15-4 in conference. They beat Union, Colgate and Quinnipiac. That's it and that's all. The Saints beat them 6-1 and tied 2-2 in their two meetings.

Clarkson

Well, you can all probably go read Cap Carey's blog all about it: watertowndailytimes.com/section/knightstales. Here's the skinny: Clarkson has some decent offense again this season, but early on has battled with illness and injury. It's a middle-of-the-road kind of team. It will have its share of upsets, but will hover somewhere around .500 for much of conference play I think. Cap may have different ideas, and coach George Roll definitely does.

Colgate

The Red Raiders are from around my old stomping grounds. Based in Hamilton, Colgate is already 2-2-3. It looks like the school's off to the same type of play it had last year. The Red Raiders played an NCAA-record 19 overtime games in 2008-09. Most of its scoring is back, including David McIntyre, who had 21 goals last season. Six players are already claimed by the NHL: Corbin McPherson (NJ Devils, 0 goals, 5 assists in 08-09), Austin Smith (Dallas, 17, 14), Brian Day (NY Islanders, 14, 13), Jeremey Price (Vancouver, Freshman), Thomas Larkin (Columbus, Freshman). McIntyre hasn't scored this season through seven games. He will, and when he starts, he will not stop. Colgate should finish in the upper have of the league.

Cornell

I went to school in Ithaca (Ithaca College, or as the Cornell kids called it “Ivy light”). I wouldn't be sad if they finished last. Unfortunately that's highly unlikely. The Red Raiders finished three points behind Yale for the league title. Guess what? Everyone important is back. Riley Nash (35 points), Colin Greening (31) and Blake Gallagher (28) all return. The league should be scared. Cornell finished 22-10-4 last year. They are ranked fifth nationally and have potential to make a national championship run.

Dartmouth

Dartmouth, without a drafted player, had a decent season last year, finishing tied for fifth in the ECACHL with 24 points. Aside from Rob Pritchard (18 points), it returns the brunt of its scoring. It was a young team that played well, and that experience will put Dartmouth a place or two higher this season. Defense is the question here, though. In one nonconference game and an exhibition, Dartmouth has allowed 12 goals. Officially, it lost only to Harvard, 5-3. This is the wildcard of the bunch who will either have an unparalleled rise in the league or fall to the bottom. I don't see much else.

Harvard

Harvard is coming off a fifth-place finish in the ECAC after a 9-16-6 season. All nine wins came in conference. Doug Rogers returns as the team's most-prolific offensive threat. He had 21 points last season. Following him is Alex Biega who had 20 points as a defenseman. Harvard is a well-rounded team with a lot of experience. Like Dartmouth, its season could go one of two ways. I see them as a potential upset threat, which can beat the likes of Yale and Cornell, but not on a consistent basis.

Princeton

The Tigers are off to a 1-1 start. They beat Brown, 1-0, but were spanked by Yale, 5-2. Princeton is currently ranked 14th nationally and finished last season with 22 wins and a 14-8 conference record – good for third place. There are three 20-plus point scorers returning to an offense that produced 271 points. The Tigers is tough to compete with and even tougher to beat. Yale, though, exposed them a little bit and offense appears a bit of a problem (three goals in two games).

Quinnipiac

The Bobcats are off to a hot start at 4-1, and are averaging better than four goals per game. The problem comes on the defense and in net. Bud Fisher graduated after starting in 18 games last year, leaving sophomore Dan Clarke as the eldest returning goalie. Eric Hartnell and Mathieu Cadieux come in as unknown freshmen. Will the Bobcats continue this torrid pace despite allowing nearly three goals per game? It can if it continues its own scoring rampage. The Bobcats already have 20 goals this season.

Rensselaer

The perennial cellar-dweller Engineers haven't had a .500 finishing mark in conference in three years. One has to go back to the 2003-04 season to find an overall winning record. What happened to RPI? I do not know. This season the issue is holding onto leads. Four times the Engineers gave away their third-period advantage. They managed to win two of them, but the signs are still not good. They won't be much of a threat and a string of bad beats to the likes of Yale, Cornell, Clarkson and St. Lawrence may take them out of contention before the New Year.

St. Lawrence

Regular followers of the blog will know my feelings here. The Saints have shown potential to be an explosive team. The goals generated from the blue line last year will have to be made up elsewhere this season. Fans can't expect four goals from defensemen every game, as it happened against Sacred Heart last week. St. Lawrence has played only one bad game really – a 4-1 loss to Clarkson. Other than that, I think the Saints will challenge any team save Yale and Cornell, but even they aren't safe if St. Lawrence plays above itself for three periods. The Saints are picked to finish seventh in the ECAC by the coaches. From what I've seen and the games they've played, I think they're underrated. A fourth-place finish isn't out of the question, but seventh is way too low. Injuries, though, are the big equalizer.

Union

Offense shouldn't be a problem for Dutchmen. They're 3-3 this season and have 26 goals already. But they've given away 22, including 13 power-play scores. Union is killing penalties at just 63 percent. That won't win many games and is the reason it's lost three. They have a young defense like the Saints, but don't have near the talent back there.

Yale

Ah, yes, the Bulldogs. They're the reigning ECACHL regular season and tournament champion. Yale is still good, and is ranked sixth nationally. I'm sure its growling about its place behind Cornell in the national poll. Yale has played only one game this year – a 5-2 beat down of Princeton. I think it's still the team to beat and it will soon be reflected in the polls.

For the second consecutive week a St. Lawrence player won "Rookie of the Week" by the ECAC.

Peter Child earned it this week after recording his first-career goal en route to a hat trick against Sacred Heart in a St. Lawrence 6-3 win on Friday at Appleton Arena.

Read the release (PDF)

Pete Child on his hat trick:

St. Lawrence gave up three goals in the third period and managed to tie it on Jeremiah Cunningham's goal. The Saints had a couple chances in the overtime session, but wasn't able to sneak one past Steven Legatto.

Read the story.

Here is Cunningham's game-tying goal:

Alex Petizian

Mike McKenzie

OVERTIME

Saints can't squeeze it past Legatto despite several chances here in overtime. 1:49 left

Third period notes

CUNNINGHAM GOAL

Penalty killed - two minutes left

Refs miss a penalty on SHU - whistle Flanagan for interference - 4th power play in period.

Slashing against SHU - SLU power play

penalty killed

SLU penalty - Kyle Flanagan - cross checking.

Goal SHU - Boivert

Goal SHU - Deflection and it's tied - 6:11 - Jarman gets the goal.

PP goal for SHU - Paul Ferraro - 5:07.

McKenzie another penalty - his second - Two minutes for tripping (I say it's a bad call and so does everyone in the arena)

Penalty killed

Underway...

Second Period impressions

St. Lawrence still looking good, Petizian keeping the Saints in front with some great goalkeeping. He has 22 saves total.

Sacred Heart is clearly getting frustrated. They can only blame themselves. St. Lawrence keeps getting into the box, but SHU comes right back with a matching penalty within 30 seconds almost every time. The Pioneers have done that three times tonight.

Nick Johnson is gone for the game with his 5-minute major. He is their top scorer, so offense is going to be hard to come by, although they will start the third on a two-minute power play. At the horn, SLU's Mark Armstrong got whistled for cross checking.

Box Score

SLU 2, SHU 0

First Period: 1, SLU, Flanagan (McKenzie, Cunningham), 6:15; 2, SLU, Stratford (McKenzie), 12:59 (pp).

Second Period: No scoring.

Second Period notes

little fight broke out.... Teams go to the locker room. Armstrong gets a two-minute penalty for cross-checking.

Petizian great 5-hole stop keeps it 2-0 SLU.

Penalty killed

Petizian a couple nice saves on the SHU power play. He's definitely redeeming himself tonight.

McKenzie 2-minutes for slashing

Penalty killed. the Saints had a couple nice chances, but a few good saves by Legatto prevented a three-goal lead.

Nick Johnson 5-minute major - Game Misconduct. - Another penalty on a power-play. SLU will have an 3-minute power play.

Penalty on SLU - Armstrong cross checking. Petizian a couple great saves and scrum in the crease looking for a rebound. No goal. Caister down on his knees hurt. Hobbles off the ice.

Saints are keeping it in the SHU zone pretty much the whole period.

Underway....

Is this the future Joe Marsh? This kid dressed as the Saints coach for Halloween.

FIRST PERIOD IMPRESSIONS

This is pretty much how it went yesterday. The Saints came out with a lot of energy early and sustained it through the first period. Sacred Heart is hurting itself. They've twice taken a penalty while on a power play - and not very deep into one either. St. Lawrence is 1-for-2 on power-play goals. McKenzie is off to another nice game. He picked up two assists in the frame. He had a chance to tack on another goal, but lost control at the last second after dekeing two defenders. Kyle Flanagan scored on a one-timer with the assists to McKenzie and Cunningham.

Petizian seems to have settled from his early-season shambles. He has both of St. Lawrence's losses this year.

Box Score

SLU 2, SHU 0

First Period: 1, SLU, Flanagan (McKenzie, Cunningham), 6:15; 2, SLU, Stratford (McKenzie), 12:59 (pp).

Goalies: Brown, Legatto (7 shots-5 saves); SLU, Petizian (15-15).

NOTE: The costumes I've seen are: Two guys in bathrobes with "censored" black strips you know where; The Cat in the Hat; Plaxico Burress (see video in the Pregame section); A ref with a blind walking stick and glasses, Minnie Mouse, a Pirate and a woodsman.

END OF PERIOD

First period notes

Petizian is playing well today, making his home debut.

Sacred Heart is hurting itself again. They are taking penalties on power plays.

Mac Stratford POWER PLAY GOAL - McKenzie second assist 12:59 into the first. Came off of loose puck.

SLU power-play for one minute.

SHU penalty - Knowlton hooking - 4-on-4 now. Twice on a power-play SHU commits penalty.

SLU Penalty - Derek Keller - 4-on-3 for 29 seconds.

SHU penalty holding - 4-on-4. SLU will have a 17-second power play at the end of it.

Penalty on SLU Torney - Hooking.

Flanagan score off big assist from McKenzie. Great back-handed pass. Petizian made a great save to set it up.

McKenzie fires straight in the chest of Legatto. Only real good scoring shot for either team thus far.

Penalty killed. Saints didn't get a shot on net.

Penalty on SHU Patrick Knowlton - hooking

We are underway.

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STARTERS

SLU:

Forwards: Kyle Flanagan, Jeremiah Cunningham, Mike McKenzie

Defensemen: Jeff Ciaster, Derek Keller.

Goalie: Alex Petizian.

NOTE: Petizian is still looking for his first win this season. He is 0-2-0.

Sacred Heart:

Forwards: Matt Gordon, David Berube, Evan Mladenoff

Defensemen: Mitchell Stretch, Paul Ferraro.

Goalie: Steven Legatto (the goalie who replaced starter Olivier St. Onge yesterday).

NOTE: SLU's Mark Armstrong said he felt both goalies looked small to him. He added that maybe it was just because St. Lawrence has a few big ones.

Officials: Andy O'Brien, Robert St. Lawrence, Assistants: William Lyons, Scott Prim.

Are these two lonely during warm-ups? They've been here since the end of the women's game... at 5 p.m.

Recapping last night

St. Lawrence downed Sacred Heart yesterday to the tune of 6-3.

• Robby Moss remained undefeated, making 21 saves. St. Lawrence converted 2-of-5 power-play opportunities, while SHU converted on just one (with only about 5 seconds left in the game).

• Pete Child became the first defenseman since Bob Burke in 1954 to record a hat trick.

• SLU records do not indicate if any other player recorded his first college goal and a hat trick in the same game.

• Ricky Carden also had his first career goal.

• The last time an opponent scored six or more goals against SHU was on Mar. 15, 2009.

• The Pioneers were last swept on Feb. 13-14, 2009 at Army

• SLU's Mike McKenzie now has 85 career points.

• SLU's Aaron Bogosian sat out last night, citing a strained groin. He said he "probably could have gone," but opted to wait until league play next weekend to return.

• I bathed in Purell after the game. SLU has upwards of 200 probable cases of the H1N1 virus. Petizian thinks he had it. All the players were given the traditional flu shot, but many fell ill to "flu-like symptoms."

Here are the player and coach interviews from St. Lawrence's 6-3 win over Sacred Heart on Friday night.

Read the game story

Pete Child

Mike McKenzie

Joe Marsh

FINAL: SLU 6, SHU 3

SHU Dave Jarman scored near buzzer.

Heading down for interviews.

Third Period notes

Power play for SHU the rest of the game two minutes left.

Penalty killed.

McKenzie penalty - elbowing.

Penalty killed. SLU kind of just winding down for the most part. The game has slowed considerably this period.

SHU on power play.

NOTE: Rick Carden's goal was the first of his career.

SECOND PERIOD IMPRESSIONS

Um, what just happened there? Six goals were scored -- 4 from SLU, 2 by SHU -- in the second period. St. Lawrence is crushing the power plays. They are two for five right now, while SHU missed on three chances.

Mike McKenzie is having a great game so far. He has a goal and two assists and is rapidly closing in on 100 career points.

Pete Child's hat trick is the first of his career. The sophomore defensemen scored two in the frame, including one power play.

What else? This has to be the most efficient and deadly offensive output so far this season for the Saints. They're controlling the puck, taking good shots and outplaying the Pioneers tonight.

This may be as good as over. St. Lawrence hasn't given up more than four goals in a game, much less a period this year.

Scoring

SLU 6, SHU 2

First period: 1, SLU, McKenzie (Flanagan, Hughes), 6:24; 2, SLU, Child (Cunningham), 18:17 (4-on-4).

Second period: 3, SHU, Delong (Stretch, Jarman), 2:46; 4, SLU, Child (Hughes, Vermeulen), 5:16 (pp); 5, SLU, Carden (Pitsikoulis, Bollig), 7:59; 6, SHU, Johnson (Miniaci), 9:21; 7, SLU, Child (McKenzie), 9:51; 8, SLU, D. Keller (Caister, McKenzie), 17:53 (pp).

Goalies: SHU, St. Onge (20 shots-16 saves), Legatto, 12:00 (7-5); SLU, Moss (13-11).

END of Period

Second period notes

Derek Keller score McKenzie assist (pp) 17:43.

Penalty SHU too many men

Penalty killed... 4 minutes left in second

Johnson picks up anther penalty - SLU PP

PETE CHILD HAT TRICK... 9:51

Moss lets one trickle by off a rebound... couldn't quite kick it with his right skate. Goal goes to Nick Johnson 9:21.

Sacred Heart switches goalies.

RICK CARDEN SCORE - 7:51

CHILD SECOND GOAL (HUGHES ASSIST) - PP - 5:16 INTO SECOND

Crossbar hit by Hughes.

SHU penalty - Laurysen - 4-on-3 SLU

Flanagan runs into goalie, McKenzie gets into it with Bailer... both in the box now. 4-on-4 for two minutes. They're still jawing in the box.

GOAL SHU - Tipped in front, got by Moss. Delong from Stretch and Jarman, 2:46

Penalty killed - all even now.

SLU starts on Power play.

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Scoring

SLU 2, SHU 0

First period: 1, SLU, McKenzie (Flanagan, Hughes), 6:24; 2, SLU, Child (Cunningham), 18:17 (4-on-4).

FIRST PERIOD IMPRESSIONS

Goalies: SHU, St. Onge (12 shots-10 saves); SLU, Moss (8-8).

Two goals, three penalty kills and some great goal-keeping from Moss (once again) is not a bad way to start. Kyle Flanagan and Mike MicKenzie are both playing brilliantly. Flanagan's pass to McKenzie on the first goal was sensational. He dumped just right of goal, holding it as long as he could to draw the defender and the goalie to the left side of the net. He hit McKenzie on the right for a wide-open goal.

Pete Child's score came from the point on a slap shot to the lower right blocker. It was assisted by Jeremiah Cunningham.

St. Lawrence will start the second period on a 1 minute, 11 second power play carryover.

SLU has come out the sharpest and most energized yet this season. They are playing near top level. The only negative is three penalties in the frame. Max Mobley and Alex Curran each had a hooking penalty and SLU took a too-many-men penalty.

Sacred Heart is playing more on emotion than skill it seems, and they aren't doing a very good job controlling the puck. What shots they've gotten have been good, but not enough of them to make a significant threat at this point, especially with Moss looking like he's on again tonight.

END OF FIRST PERIOD

First Period Notes

A little shoving going on. Sacred Heart not happy. Penalty on Corey Laurysen. 5-on-3 SLU for 27 seconds.

PETE CHILD NAILS SLAP SHOT FROM POINT - 2-0 SAINTS 18:17.

Penalty on SHU - Nick Johnson just 27 seconds into the PP - 4-on-4 for basically the rest of the period.

Penalty on SLU - Too many men - Marsh not happy. Two minutes. Marsh is furious on the bench.

Penalty killed. SHU didn't take but two shots... maybe. Great job by SLU.

Penalty on Curran for hooking. Two minutes pp for SHU.

A couple nice saves by both goalies through the first period. Six minutes left. SHU going with lots of speed. Bogosian is out of the lineup. Probably has the flu, I didn't notice before the game and no one alerted me to it. Will ask afterward.

10 minutes left in the first. St. Lawrence looks much better than SHU so far.

Moss another nice save... this with the glove. Still 1-0 Saints.

Moss with an incredible kick save off a rebound shot from back boards.

FLANAGAN GREAT PASS TO MCKENZIE - EASY GOAL, 6:24

Penalty killed. Nice job by Moss and Flanagan this one.

Moss makes a good save on a rocket at point-blank range.

Saints on penalty kill.

Penalty on Max Mobley - Hooking.

McKenzie missed just wide on a good looking shot. SLU comes out looking very good.

We are underway.

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Pregame

SHU's Nick Johnson was already jawing with SLU players during warm ups. Not sure if the Pioneers have a reputation, but this game already feels intense... at least for the players.

The fans are still trickling in, but it feels a little empty. Perhaps everyone has the flu. Petizian told me SLU has 190 cases. Clarkson's volleyball team didn't have enough to play in a regional tournament and canceled the match.

STARTERS UPDATE

For St. Lawrence: Mike McKenzie, Jeremiah Cunningham and Kyle Flanagan are the starting forwards. Curran, Vermeulen and Bollig will play on the second line.

Sacred Heart STARTERS

Forwards: Matt Gordon, David Berube, Evan Mladenoff

Defense: Chris Bailer, Paul Ferraro

Goalie: Olivier St. Onge (Coming off a 30-save performance)

SLU STARTERS

Forwards: Alex Curran, Travis Vermeulen, Brandon Bollig (Mike McKenzie, Jeremiah Cunningham and Kyle Flanagan are on the second line.)

Defense: Jeff Caister, Derek Keller.

Goalie: Robby Moss.

OFFICIALS: Refs: Ale Dell, Andy O'Brien; Assistants: William Lyons, Scott Prim.

The long trip up from Watertown seems to be getting longer by the day. It rained the whole way and I'm contemplating buying sled dogs even more. The winter drive will not be fun.

The women's team beat Yale 4-0.

Game time is still about two hours away, but I have some updates:

Robby Moss will start in goal tonight.

Drewiske should be in the lineup and see the ice. He missed a few games with a knee injury.

Sacred Heart named its captains today. They are: Corey Laurysen (C) and Matt Gordon (A). This was so late-notice that the Pioneers trainer needed to use the St. Lawrence sewing machine to stitch on the 'C' and the 'A'. How about that? I suspect this was because of the late coaching change. Sacred Heart just hired CJ Marottolo for the season.

Mark Armstrong said he wants a follow up to his "Get to Know a Saint" feature. Maybe he'll drop some Nelly Furtado on us this time. "Promiscuous Girl" anyone, anyone? Bueller?

You know him as a left-winger, but there's a lot to this Tampa, Fla. native you don't know. I sat down with him for the latest -- and quite hilarious -- episode in the "Get to Know a Saint" series.

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If you have questions for a player, e-mail them to dcassavaugh@wdt.net.

I have update galore now that I've finally talked with coach Joe Marsh this evening.

Injury Updates

Marsh said nine players were out with injuries from Monday's practice. Some have the flu, some are dealing with injuries. Here are the players you need to know:

Jacob Drewiske — He has missed consecutive games with a contusion on his right knee. Marsh said Drewiske is riding the stationary bike in practice daily and should return by the weekend, but is day-to-day.

Matt Raley — He is battling a shoulder and knee injury and will likely miss this weekend's games against Sacred Heart.

Jeremiah Cunningham — He is suffering from bruised ribs and took a slash to the wrist. He is probably for Friday, but did not practice on Monday.

Alex Petizian

The starting goalie was pulled after a period against Clarkson, and Robby Moss was inserted. The obvious question: Is Robby Moss now the starter?

“We're not going to rush into things,” Marsh said. “(Petizian) had been sick. The decision was based on the fact he wasn't quite up to it. Maybe he was thinking, ‘Oh God, I'm a senior...' A lot of other things were going on in his mind. It's just like a pitcher in baseball. If an ace comes in and gets rocked a little bit, you don't let him stay in and bleed to death.”

My guess is Petizian is still the start, and is technically more sound than Moss. But Moss has played brilliantly in the early going. He is saving nearly 95 percent of the shots he's faced. Petizian has allowed six goals in four periods of play, and has an 0-2 record. Moss is 2-0.

“(Moss) is a little unorthodox, but he made some good stops,” Marsh said. “The only goal was on a 5-on-3.”

Practice

It's a little early to tell what exactly the Saints are working on. With nine players out, Marsh said they can't do a whole lot of anything.

“We can't really do much until we get those guys back,” he said. “We want to learn from the game on Saturday.”

Special teams — which was so good last season — has struggled to start the season. Clarkson scored three power-play goals on Saturday, and St. Lawrence endured nine penalties.

“What we're focussing on is some execution,” Marsh said. “We have to find ways to be more resilient and stay out of the box.”

Well the Saints didn't have a good trip up to Potsdam for its first meeting with Clarkson this season. St. Lawrence lost 4-1, and gave up three power-play goals. Alex Petizian was pulled after the first period, where he gave up three goals.

Here is some video shot by Cap Carey from Saturday's game:

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I have not talked to coach Joe Marsh yet, but will be attending practice on Tuesday. I'll be chatting with him then, as well as this week's "Get to Know a Saint" -- Alex Curran.

If you have any questions you'd like to ask Curran, e-mail them to dcassavaugh@wdt.net.

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