Men: Looking ahead to 2014-2015

Last years Skating Saints finished 13-17-4 with a 7-11-4 ECAC record, good for eighth in the conference. In a first round tournament matchup with Brown, they swept the Bears, before falling 2 games to none to Colgate in round two.
St. Lawrence graduated 8 seniors and lost a total of ten players, once Matt Carey (NHL) and Trevor Hills (transfer) are factored in. Four of SLU's top five scorers (Carey, Carey, Wick, Baker) are gone, leaving just Gavin Bayreuther from last year. Matt Weninger, the stalwart starter in net for four years is also gone, along with solid defensive defensemen Patrick Raley and Riley Austin, as well as valuable penalty killer and captain Kyle Essery. While its great to see many of those guys go on to play professionally, the task is now to find a way to replace them and ice a competitive team.
For much of the 2013-2014 season, the Saints struggled defensively and in net, so those areas will need improvement. Starting in net, the Saints retained junior goalie Kyle MacDonald, a veteran backup who is more than capable of stepping up when needed. Tyler Parks is also returning for his sophomore season. Parks, who spent most of last year as the number two goalie, would appear to be the starter on opening night, at least in my mind. He takes up a lot of the net and challenges for every puck. The Saints bring in Kyle Hayton from Shattuck St. Mary's and Sioux City in the USHL. Hayton posted a .919 save percentage and a 2.55 GAA in 40 games with Sioux Falls last year. From the highlights I've seen, he's got good reflexes and a strong lateral movement, though his position seemed to be a bit off at times. He brings a winning pedigree from Shattuck to SLU, and could potentially push for a starting spot in the beginning. I wouldn't be surprised to see Parks and Hayton go fifty-fifty for the first 6-8 games until Carvel finds the goalies he likes.
On the back end, the Saints lost Pat Raley, Riley Austin and Justin Baker. They add Nolan Gluchowski, Mitch Eden and Matt Purmal.
Purmal is a big body presence, similar to Riley Austin. He only scored 4 points last season in 52 games, but has good size at 6'3" and 186, and should add to the size on the backend with Ross McMullan and Ben Masella.
Mitch Eden is a similar player to Justin Baker, scoring 9 goals and adding 32 assists for 41 points in 55 games with Prince George in the BCHL last season.
Nolan Gluchowski split last season with Tri-City and Sioux Falls in the USHL, recording 24 points in 56 games. He also has good size at 6'0 and 190, and can provide good defense while also stepping up and pushing the pace occasionally, very similar to Eric Sweetman.
The forward corps will look a lot different this year. Both Greg and Matt Carey are gone, having signed deals with Phoenix and Chicago in the NHL, and Jeremy Wick will play for Geneva in Switzerland next year. Kyle Essery is also gone, taking away valuable leadership and penalty killing. The Saints added Ryan Lough, Patrick Steinhauser, Michael Marnell, Joseph Sullivan, and Christian Horn.
Lough is a 5'10 175 LW, who scored 19 goals and 23 assists for 42 points in 60 games for Green Bay in the USHL last season. He also finished as a plus 15 and scored 5 shorthanded goals. His game is a 200 foot game, defensively responsible, but he's a slick skater with good hands who isn't afraid to go to the net.
Steinhauser is a 5'8" 165 center who recorded 12 points in 44 games with Aberdeen in the NAHL last season. He was a minus five and had one power play goal.
Marnell comes in at 5'9 174 on the left wing, scoring 22 points on 10 goals and 12 assists in 47 games with Des Moines in the USHL last season. He was a minus 9 with 4 power play goals.
Christian Horn was a point per game player with Sioux Falls last year, scoring 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points in 22 games. He was a plus ten with 2 power play goals.
Joseph Sullivan is a center who spent last year with Indiana in the USHL, recording 22 points in 58 games, including a shorthanded goal. He was a minus four.
So, if you still haven't fallen asleep after reading all that, here's my ultimate predictions for this year in the ECAC. I like what the Saints can bring to the table, but I'm not sure they can snag the top spot while competing against teams like Union, Quinnipiac, RPI and Cornell. I'd predict a finish from 5-7 in the ECAC, and at least one series win the the ECAC tournament. I don't see them going to the NCAA tournament, but I've been wrong so many more times than I've been right, so we'll see.
Here's how I see the lines for next year, but this is complete and total speculation:
Forwards:
Chris Martin-Patrick Doherty-Gunnar Hughes
Drew Smolcysnki-Brian Ward-Tommy Thompson
Ryan Lough-Alex Dahl-Christian Horn
Woody Hudson-Joseph Sullivan-Sean McGovern
Defenseman
Gavin Bayreuther-Chris Martin
Eric Sweetman-Mitch Eden
Mike Graham-Nolan Gluchowski
Goalies:
Tyler Parks
Kyle Hayton
Kyle MacDonald
You'll see Martin is at forward and defense. Thats because he can play both and did last year. I'd bet he'll be at forward, in which case a rotation of Ben Masella and Ross McMullan would take his place on D.
Again, these are just my lines, nothing for the Carvel camp.
Season starts October 10 vs Carleton at Appleton.