Senior center Casey Parenteau scored two goals, linemate Mike McKenzie had three assists each and St. Lawrence University sailed to a 5-1 win over arch-rival Clarkson in a non-league game at Appleton Arena in Canton on Saturday night.
Junior goaltender Kain Tisi made 13 saves to earn his first victory of the year for the Saints as the SLU defense held Clarkson to a total of 14 shots on goal for the game.
“Holding Clarkson to that low a shot total says a lot about how the whole team played defensively tonight,” said Saints’ coach Joe Marsh. “We were able to jump on them early with a couple of nice offensive plays and set the tone early. Kain made some solid saves, but I was very pleased with the way we limited their chances, particularly in the second period.”
Tisi, who has often been a victim of a lack of offensive support in his first three seasons with the Saints, couldn’t have asked for a better beginning by his offensive teammates as the Saints jumped on the Knights for three goals in the first 7:25 of the game. St. Lawrence had scored just one goal in Tisi’s previous seven periods of action this season.
Parenteau scored the first two, his sixth and seventh of the season. His first of the night came on a wrist shot that beat Clarkson goalie Paul Karpowich inside the far post at 2:57 of the first and the second was a shot into the wide-open net after a cross-crease pass from Kevin DeVergilio at 5:42. The third Saints’ goal came with a delayed penalty being indicated against Clarkson. Junior defenseman Jeff Caister, a transfer from Wayne State, scored his first Saints’ goal when he rifled a shot into the upper corner from the center slot with twins Jared and Derek Keller assisting at 7:25.
St. Lawrence completely dominated the second period, out-shooting Clarkson 22-2 and driving Karpowich from the game with a power-play goal by Shawn Fensel at 3:48 to make it a 4-0 Saints’ lead. McKenzie and DeVergilio picked up their third assists of the night on the play as Fensel gunned the puck into the upper corner. Richie LeVeau took over for the Knights in goal and made 17 saves as the Saints spent most of the period in the Clarkson zone and the Knights did not get a shot on goal after the 9:01 mark of the period.
While the Saints scored on only one of seven power play chances in the game, they did generate 18 shots on the power play, including 14 in the second period.
“The power play is coming along,” said Marsh. “It is something we have worked on a lot lately, and while we didn’t score as many goals as we would like, 18 shots show that we had our chances.”
The Golden Knights broke Tisi’s shutout bid 3:41 into the third period when Matt Beca took a pass from Scott Freeman and fired a shot from Tisi’s right that caught the net just inside the post on a power play. The Saints answered that just under four minutes later when Jared Keller scored his second of the year, stuffing the puck past LeVeau from right in front with Aaron Bogosian and Rick Carden assisting.
