CANTON, N.Y. — In a tightly-contested game between Yale and St. Lawrence, the home team edged the visiting Bulldogs 3-2 in overtime as the Saints completed the season sweep of their ECAC foe after previously winning 4-0 on Nov. 8.
After a 3-on-3 rush and a shot from the point, St. Lawrence’s Brian Ward found a loose puck in a pile of players in the low slot. He fired a shot on net and it bounced through bodies and past Yale goalie Alex Lyon at 2:43 of overtime. The official scorer gave the goal to Ward, but the sentiment among the players was that Mike Marnell was the last player to touch the puck.
“I guess we’re going to have to go to the video review for that one, but it doesn’t matter,” Ward said. “It just feels good to beat that team.”
The Saints opened up a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal from Tommy Thompson. Patrick Doherty fired a shot on net from the left faceoff circle and Lyon kicked out the initial shot, but Thompson capitalized on a rebound in the slot to give the Saints the lead at 11:53.
The second period also saw just one goal, as Yale’s Mike Doherty found a loose puck in the SLU crease and tapped it past Kyle Hayton to even the score at 1-all.
Then eight minutes into the third period, Yale took a 2-1 lead when Matt Killian beat Hayton through his five hole.
St. Lawrence coach Greg Carvel was pleased with the way his team was able to stay resilient, even after giving up a lead. That resilience came in the form of first-year Christian Horn, who finished off a St. Lawrence power play from just above the red line with 1:13 remaining in the third period to tie the game for SLU.
“The goalie leaned forward a little bit and gave me that short side high,” said Horn. “Luckily, it went in.”
The goal was Horn’s third in 19 games this year, but his coach believes the statistics do not reflect the talent.
“He’s a high-end guy,” Carvel said. “Not many guys are going to score that goal.”
Carvel added that tonight’s win could be a turning point.
“I’m real happy for this group,” said Carvel. “They’ve played really hard all year and some things haven’t gone their way. Tonight, they did. To be down a goal with a minute to go and come out with two points, that’s huge.”
“We Needed to defend our house a little bit more than usual, but this was a good confidence boost,” added Horn.
Yale coach Keith Allain was obviously disappointed with the final score, but felt his team battled hard.
“We just weren’t efficient enough on offense,” Allain said.
