Senior wing Mike Zbriger snapped a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal 7:14 into the third period, and St. Lawrence University held Colgate without a shot on goal for 19 minutes of the final period for a 3-2 ECACHL victory over the Raiders at Appleton Arena Friday night.
St. Lawrence improved to 16-12-1 overall and 10-7-0 in the ECACHL, while Colgate dropped its third straight and is now 15-9-5 overall and 11-5-1 in league play.
Zbriger’s goal, his 11th of the season, came with 37 seconds left in a major power play. Freshman defenseman Matt Generous took a shot from the point which Zbriger deflected, and, while Colgate goalie Mark Dekanich got a piece of the puck, he couldn’t keep it from trickling over the line.
The Saints outshot Colgate 44-12 for the game and did not allow the Raiders a shot on net until under a minute remained in the third period and with Dekanich on the bench for an extra attacker. Justin Pesony made 10 saves in the Saint net for his 15th win of the season.
Dekanich was spectacular in the first period, making 18 saves and holding the Raiders in the game. The sophomore finished with 41 saves for the night.
“I thought we played a very strong first period and really should have come out of it with the lead,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “Dekanich is an excellent goalie and made some big saves.
“We had some trouble getting shots ourselves for the first part of the second period, but we were able to pick things back up and get a little offense going again. And our defense was outstanding pretty much from start to finish.”
The Saints took the early lead when sophomore Charlie Giffin worked the puck off the end boards and centered the puck to freshman Kevin DeVergilio who put his 11th of the season past Dekanich with a shot just under the crossbar at 14:23. The Saint lead did not last long, however, as Colgate came back on a power play. Senior Kyle Wilson scored his 21st of the season on a shot just inside the post at 17:12.
Colgate took a 2-1 lead 8:09 into the second when Liam Huculak banked the puck into the net off the pads of Pesony, but the Saints, who had only one shot on net in the first ten minutes of the period, tied it again at 15:31 as T.J. Trevelyan scored his 15th of the year. Trevelyan, who now has a ten game scoring streak, took a pass from John Zeiler and beat Dekanich with a shot under the crossbar after a faceoff win in the Colgate end.
