It was another tightly contested game between the Miami RedHawks and St. Lawrence Saints, but this time, the Saints emerged with the win, earning a weekend split with their NCHC foe.
Unlike last night, St. Lawrence scored the first goal, and also unlike last night, it was the first of many for both squads in what was a 5-3 affair in favor of SLU. Freshman Jacob Pritchard recorded his first collegiate goal when his shot from the corner was deflected in front of the net.
“I just saw the puck and shot it toward the net,” said Pritchard. “By the time I saw the puck in the net, I wasn’t sure what happened.”
Miami evened the odds in the second period off Chris Joyaux’s goal. Joyaux found himself alone above the faceoff dot and unleashed a slap shot that beat a screened Kyle Hayton high glove side at the 10:24 mark of the second.
SLU regained the lead quickly, with two goals in 28 seconds roughly five minutes later. First, Sean McGovern scored off a wrist shot from the high slot.
“It was kind of a one on two going in, and I tried to use the defenseman as a screen,” said McGovern. “I don’t think the goalie saw it until it was too late.”
Mike Marnell recorded his first goal of the season 28 seconds later. After Brian Ward stole the puck and found Marnell in the slot, the sophomore fired a backhander past Ryan McKay for the two-goal lead.
“We really missed (Marnell) to start,” said Saints coach Greg Carvel. “He sort of embodies the game we want to play.”
Tommy Thompson’s goal five minutes into the third gave SLU a 4-1 lead, but two quick Miami goals brought the RedHawks within striking distance. Matt Caito’s power-play goal off a tip in started the sequence and Alex Gacek followed up just 52 seconds later. Hayton kicked out Louie Belpedio’s shot, but Gacek was there to collect the rebound and narrow the Saints’ lead to one.
Miami pulled McKay to try and even the score, but Marnell recorded his second goal of the game on an empty netter to seal the win for SLU.
“That was a really good game,” said Carvel. “That’s a complete, or close to a complete, game. I thought we dominated possession at times. It got a little too close. When you’re ahead 4-1, you should be able to walk away with it, but they’re a high-powered offense. At the end of the day, I have a lot of respect for coach Blasi and the program he runs.”
“I think everybody knows who the better team was tonight; it was St. Lawrence,” said RedHawks coach Enrico Blasi. “They deserved to win. We got ourselves on our heels early, and they deserved to win. That’s a good team over there.”
The Saints head to Penn State next week to play the Nittany Lions for the first time ever. Miami heads to St. Cloud State to open their NCHC schedule.
