After a somewhat lackluster game on Friday night, the St. Lawrence Saints used a big night from their top line to cruise to a 6-0 victory on the road over the Michigan Tech Huskies. The Saints had four points from captain Aaron Bogosian and winger Greg Carey, along with three from winger Kyle Flanagan, Saturday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
“Bogosian’s a terrific captain in a lot of ways on and off the ice,” said Saints coach Joe Walsh. “We really missed him at the beginning of the year. He’s getting his points [now].”
Neither team could get much going in the early stages of the contest. The Saints (7-10-4 overall) were getting the majority of the scoring chances, but they weren’t able to convert until defenseman Peter Child found the back of the net at 14:47. Child’s blast from the left point was set up by his defensive partner, Pat Raley. Flanagan also assisted on the goal.
Off the ensuing faceoff, the Saints worked the puck deep into the Huskies’ zone. The puck came back to forward Kyle Essery at the point, who fired a shot at Huskies goaltender Josh Robinson. The rebound was corralled by forward Mark Armstrong, who found assistant captain Jacob Drewiske in front for his third goal of the season at 15:22. Forward Max Mobley also assisted on the goal.
The Huskies (3-16-3 overall) only managed four shots in the opening frame.
“I didn’t think our first period was very good,” said Huskies coach Jamie Russell. “I thought our effort was better in the second and the third. [We were] not real thorough; no excuses for that.”
With the Saints on the power play in the second period, Bogosian scored his first of the night at 5:20 after taking a pass on the back door from Flanagan and burying the puck in the back of the net. Carey notched his first assist of the night on the play as well.
Finally getting their feet underneath them, the Huskies had a great opportunity to break through about seven minutes into the period when freshman winger Ryan Furne took a pass from freshman winger Milos Gordic and one-timed a shot on goal. Saints netminder Matt Weninger was there to make the stop.
Bogosian scored his second of the night on a very similar play to his first goal after taking a pass from Carey on the back door at 14:09. Center Matt Dyer was credited with the second assist as he found Carey in the corner.
Huskies freshman winger Jacob Johnstone had a great opportunity on the power play to get his team on the board, but again Weninger was equal to the task. Weninger was tested again a short time later when junior winger Alex MacLeod made a beautiful pass to freshman center Daniel Holmberg, but Holmberg’s attempt was stopped.
The Saints generated the last good scoring chance of the second period and buried it when Carey took a pass from Flanagan and blasted a one-timer past Robinson at 19:28. Bogosian also assisted on the goal.
Robinson was pulled in favor of junior Corson Cramer for the third period, and he made five stops before the final buzzer.
The final Saints goal came from Carey at 17:52, when Huskies co-captain Deron Cousens’ shot was blocked by Bogosian. The puck caromed over to Sean Flanagan, who fed Carey in stride. Carey flew in and beat Cramer with a wrister.
The Saints finished two-for-four on the power play while holding the Huskies to zero-for-six.
Weninger made 22 stops for his second career shutout, while Robinson and Cramer combined to make 23.
