Union went to Appleton Arena looking for its first-ever sweep of the North Country teams. But Charlie Daniels and his band of St. Lawrence Saints weren’t going to let that happen.
Daniels scored two power-play goals on similar set ups Saturday, sparking the Saints to a 6-0 ECAC victory, snapping the Dutchmen’s three-game winning streak.
“No offense to Charlie Daniels, but he wasn’t the one we were expecting to give up two power-play goals to,” Union coach Kevin Sneddon said. “To his credit, he buried two nice goals. We were so worried about [Erik] Anderson.”
Anderson, the ECAC’s leading scorer, had two goals and an assist for the first-place Saints (13-9-4, 10-3-3 ECAC). Matt Desrosiers and Kevin Veneruzzo scored in a 31-second span early in the third period to seal the win and chase Union goalie Brandon Snee from the game. Saints goalie Jeremy Symington made 23 saves, and picked up an assist.
It was the second straight year that the Dutchmen (10-13-3, 6-9-1) had a chance for a North Country sweep. They have won in their last two visits to Clarkson, including Friday’s 2-1 victory.
“It hurts, but it doesn’t take away what we did [Friday] night or the previous two games,” Union co-captain Clark Jones said. “We just got outplayed in every facet of the game tonight.”
Both of Daniels’ goals were set up by long outlet passes from Ray DiLauro behind the St. Lawrence net. And they were scored with 17 seconds left in the Union penalties.
On the first goal, with Drew Taylor serving an obstruction-hooking call late in the first period, Daniels took a DiLauro pass at center ice. He skated down the right wing, and had defenseman Kurt Goodjohn on him. Snee moved over too much to his left, which gave Daniels enough room to put a backhander past his right side.
Late in the second, Daniels was at the Union blue line when he accepted DiLauro’s breakout pass as Paul Kilfoy watched from the penalty box for his roughing minor. Daniels skated past Goodjohn and Jason Kean for a breakaway, and fired a wrist shot past Snee’s right side to give the Saints a 3-0 lead.
“Those really deflated us,” Jones said. “They weren’t spectacular plays, either. They were breakdowns on our part. Those were breakdowns we didn’t make [Friday] night.”
Notes: Union forward Bryant Westerman received an additional two-game suspension from Sneddon for starting the fight with Vermont’s Chris Hills on Jan. 27. He received an NCAA-imposed three-game suspension for the two game disqualifications he picked up as a result of two fighting majors. Westerman won’t be eligible to return until next Saturday against Princeton. … Dutchmen forward Jeff Hutchins missed his second straight game because of a separated left shoulder suffered last Saturday against Dartmouth. He could be ready to play Friday when the Dutchmen return home against Yale. … Saints right wing Jack O’Brien left the game in the first period with a left knee injury.
