Just over 24 hours from now, the puck will drop on the late game of the ECAC semifinals between Colgate and St. Lawrence. In the season series between the Raiders and Saints, Colgate swept SLU, winning 5-2 in Hamilton and 2-0 at Appleton.
Its actually a bit of an enigma, the way that SLU has struggled against Colgate. The Saints had pretty good success against teams that play a similar style of hockey to Colgate, destroying Union 7-1, and sweeping Harvard by two 5-1 scores.
In fact, Colgate may be the most comparable team to St. Lawrence. Both squads are built from the net out, with two excellent goalies in Kyle Hayton and Charlie Finn. Both collected multiple goalie of the week honors over the course of the season, and Finn was a preseason selection for the Mike Richter award, while Hayton was one of five nominated for the award after the conclusion of the regular season.
Both teams feature excellent defenses as well. The Saints allow 1.97 goals per game, good for T-3 in the country, while Colgate allows 2.08, good for 6th nationally. Both teams have excellent puck moving defensemen that are solid in their own zones as well. Colgate has Mike Borkowski and Spiro Goulakos while SLU has Gavin Bayreuther, Nolan Gluchowski and Eric Sweetman.
On offense, Colgate sports some of the bigger names as compared to St. Lawrence. The Spink twins, Tylor and Tyson, combined for 51 points in 56 games. Darcy Murphy, Kyle Baun as well as Borkowski and Goulakos also provide strong offense. Colgates offense clicks at 2.67 goals per game, T-34 nationally.The Saints tend to score by committee, with 4 players over 20 points. This gives SLU an offense that produces 3.06 goals per game, good for 16th nationally.
These teams are about as evenly matched as possible. It will probably be a low scoring affair, with two of the best goalies in the country and two excellent defenses. In all honesty, it most likely won't be one of the big name guys who makes the difference in this game. The goalies will make all the saves they're supposed to, and probably some they should. The defenses will hold up, in all likeliness, and hold off the big names scorers. But for SLU, someone like Christian Horn or Mike Marnell, freshman with a ton of scoring talent who might not get the attention they warrant from defenses, could be the one who score the big goal. And for Colgate, someone like Tim Harrison, a third round pick of Calgary with a lot of skill who hasn't yet reached his full potential, could be the key player for Colgate.
But also, watch Gavin Bayreuther. His game became a lot more rounded this season, as he became far more reliable in the defensive end. As a result, his offensive production took a bit of a hit, but all it takes is one chance, and his incredible slap shot could make the difference it what should be a very close, low scoring and entertaining game.
Its actually a bit of an enigma, the way that SLU has struggled against Colgate. The Saints had pretty good success against teams that play a similar style of hockey to Colgate, destroying Union 7-1, and sweeping Harvard by two 5-1 scores.
In fact, Colgate may be the most comparable team to St. Lawrence. Both squads are built from the net out, with two excellent goalies in Kyle Hayton and Charlie Finn. Both collected multiple goalie of the week honors over the course of the season, and Finn was a preseason selection for the Mike Richter award, while Hayton was one of five nominated for the award after the conclusion of the regular season.
Both teams feature excellent defenses as well. The Saints allow 1.97 goals per game, good for T-3 in the country, while Colgate allows 2.08, good for 6th nationally. Both teams have excellent puck moving defensemen that are solid in their own zones as well. Colgate has Mike Borkowski and Spiro Goulakos while SLU has Gavin Bayreuther, Nolan Gluchowski and Eric Sweetman.
On offense, Colgate sports some of the bigger names as compared to St. Lawrence. The Spink twins, Tylor and Tyson, combined for 51 points in 56 games. Darcy Murphy, Kyle Baun as well as Borkowski and Goulakos also provide strong offense. Colgates offense clicks at 2.67 goals per game, T-34 nationally.The Saints tend to score by committee, with 4 players over 20 points. This gives SLU an offense that produces 3.06 goals per game, good for 16th nationally.
These teams are about as evenly matched as possible. It will probably be a low scoring affair, with two of the best goalies in the country and two excellent defenses. In all honesty, it most likely won't be one of the big name guys who makes the difference in this game. The goalies will make all the saves they're supposed to, and probably some they should. The defenses will hold up, in all likeliness, and hold off the big names scorers. But for SLU, someone like Christian Horn or Mike Marnell, freshman with a ton of scoring talent who might not get the attention they warrant from defenses, could be the one who score the big goal. And for Colgate, someone like Tim Harrison, a third round pick of Calgary with a lot of skill who hasn't yet reached his full potential, could be the key player for Colgate.
But also, watch Gavin Bayreuther. His game became a lot more rounded this season, as he became far more reliable in the defensive end. As a result, his offensive production took a bit of a hit, but all it takes is one chance, and his incredible slap shot could make the difference it what should be a very close, low scoring and entertaining game.
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