As I sank into a food coma last night, I started to reflect on more than three years of covering St. Lawrence hockey, and realized that this spring presents both teams with an opportunity to write one hell of a script. The women's team ended the first half at 15-1-2 and hold the top spot in the PairWise, while the men appear ready to take the next step and emerge on top of the pack in the ECAC.
The past two seasons have ended in disappointment for a pair of Saints teams that almost certainly deserved better. Two straight overtime losses on Friday at Lake Placid shows just how close this group is to a championship, and one has to think that hoisting the Whitelaw Cup is the perfect way to end a script that began with the release of the 2014-2015 preseason polls. The Saints were picked to finish eleventh that season, welcoming a rookie goaltender and facing questions about goal scoring after the early departure of Matt Carey left a hole in the middle of the top line that needed to be filled.
We all know the story of that season by now. With Kyle Hayton between the pipes, a position that seemed like a weakness became the backbone of one of the best defensive teams in the ECAC. The Saints, under the leadership of prototypical SLU players like Pat Doherty, Gunnar Hughes, Brian Ward, and others, remained one of the best offensive teams in the league with scoring from all four lines. They carried a chip on their shoulder all the way to a second place regular season finish and a berth at Lake Placid, which ended in a loss to Colgate in OT on Friday.
But even in defeat, the Saints acquitted themselves well, tying the game late on a Gavin Bayreuther blast that was initially blocked. His second chance opportunity was not. The Saints would not go lightly.
The next season brought more expectations, and the Saints once again delivered, with a fourth place regular season performance and two of the best hockey games I've ever seen in their two game sweep of Clarkson in the playoffs. Once again, the Saints were bound for Lake Placid, set to battle defending tournament champion Harvard. Ultimately, Hobey Baker winner Jimmy Vesey got just enough luck from the hockey gods to score off the face of Kyle Criscuolo in overtime to send the Saints home again.
But the adversity would not end there. Less than two weeks after the season ended, head coach Greg Carvel departed the program and his alma mater for the head coaching job at UMass-Amherst, looking to build the program into the powerhouse people have long expected it to become.
The team was still full of talented, hard working, and experienced players, but a pair of positions behind the bench needed to be filled, and it didn't take long for the best candidate to stand out. Mark Morris was introduced as the 14th head coach in program history in the spring, and from the moment I spoke with him, I knew the right decision had been made. You don't win 300+ games as a coach in college and in the pros without knowing what you are doing, and I got the sense right away that he knew exactly what he was doing.
He brought in Matt Deschamps, a Maine standout who has certainly helped the forward corps in all zones, to round out the coaching staff without changing much with the rest of the staff and the 2016-17 Saints arrived on campus in the fall with some of the highest expectations of any team in the ECAC, a far cry from where this team was two seasons before.
It was a strong first half for the Saints, with just a brief stumble on the road against UMass-Lowell and Providence, which came without Eric Sweetman in the lineup. Hayton may not have started the way he wanted, but he's been damn near unbeatable since the calendar turned to November, losing just one game and posting three shutouts to break the career shutout record at St. Lawrence.
Mike Marnell is healthy for the first time in a while, and my god is it showing. The junior has 13 points since returning to the lineup against Union, including a four goal game against Brown. His 21 points eclipses the totals he put up in his rookie and sophomore seasons and he's become a legitimate scoring threat every time he's on the ice.
Gavin Bayreuther looks as deadly in the offensive zone as he has ever looked, but compared to his rookie season, his defending is miles better. He's one of the most well-rounded defensemen in the league and he's being rewarded, as he continues to lead the team in scoring with 23 points.
Joe Sullivan, a late recruit by Carvel out of the hockey hotbed of Las Vegas, has added an element of scoring to the physical nature of his game. Jake Pritchard is back on the scoring train after a bumpy start and Florida draft pick ben Finkelstein has shown he can skate and defend against the best players in the league while simultaneously helping put the puck in the net for SLU.
Mike Ederer is getting more ice time, and he's making good use of it. He's always been a fantastic skater with a lethal shot, and the confidence Morris has shown in Ederer is being rewarded so far. Nolan Gluchowski is playing more aggressive, and though it means he ends up in the box a fair amount, it also means that this Saints team has a bit of a mean streak, and as an old time hockey fan, I love that.
This team has a little bit of everything, from pure skill and speed, to grit, heart and experience. After a 10-5-4 first half that ended with a 3-1 win over Clarkson, the Saints are poised to return to Lake Placid and take the next step.
A matchup with #13 Vermont will kick off the second half before a series at Canisius. Vermont had a similarly strong first half, but one that ended on a sour note after a series sweep at the hands of Union. the Cats are ripe for the picking, and a strong road win can kickstart a good second half. After Canisius, the Saints travel to Brown and Yale and then to Colgate and Cornell before returning home.
That's a seven game road-trip to start 2017, just another bit of adversity thrown in the way of the Saints, but this team has the makeup, the leadership, and the desire to battle through it. This team is ready to win a championship. It's put in the time, its suffered the defeats and the agony of coming so close but falling just short. Teams like Harvard and Union stand in the way, but this team is ready and capable.
St. Lawrence won the inaugural ECAC tournament in 1962, and have collected six tournament titles in total over ten appearances in the final, but the last one came in 2001. Sixteen years is far too long for one of the oldest programs in the ECAC, and this edition of the Skating Saints absolutely has what it takes to add a seventh to the list. There's just one final push left to go.
The past two seasons have ended in disappointment for a pair of Saints teams that almost certainly deserved better. Two straight overtime losses on Friday at Lake Placid shows just how close this group is to a championship, and one has to think that hoisting the Whitelaw Cup is the perfect way to end a script that began with the release of the 2014-2015 preseason polls. The Saints were picked to finish eleventh that season, welcoming a rookie goaltender and facing questions about goal scoring after the early departure of Matt Carey left a hole in the middle of the top line that needed to be filled.
We all know the story of that season by now. With Kyle Hayton between the pipes, a position that seemed like a weakness became the backbone of one of the best defensive teams in the ECAC. The Saints, under the leadership of prototypical SLU players like Pat Doherty, Gunnar Hughes, Brian Ward, and others, remained one of the best offensive teams in the league with scoring from all four lines. They carried a chip on their shoulder all the way to a second place regular season finish and a berth at Lake Placid, which ended in a loss to Colgate in OT on Friday.
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| Kyle Hayton's emergence as one of the dominant goalies in college hockey helped lead the programs turnaround (Jack Lyons) |
But even in defeat, the Saints acquitted themselves well, tying the game late on a Gavin Bayreuther blast that was initially blocked. His second chance opportunity was not. The Saints would not go lightly.
The next season brought more expectations, and the Saints once again delivered, with a fourth place regular season performance and two of the best hockey games I've ever seen in their two game sweep of Clarkson in the playoffs. Once again, the Saints were bound for Lake Placid, set to battle defending tournament champion Harvard. Ultimately, Hobey Baker winner Jimmy Vesey got just enough luck from the hockey gods to score off the face of Kyle Criscuolo in overtime to send the Saints home again.
But the adversity would not end there. Less than two weeks after the season ended, head coach Greg Carvel departed the program and his alma mater for the head coaching job at UMass-Amherst, looking to build the program into the powerhouse people have long expected it to become.
The team was still full of talented, hard working, and experienced players, but a pair of positions behind the bench needed to be filled, and it didn't take long for the best candidate to stand out. Mark Morris was introduced as the 14th head coach in program history in the spring, and from the moment I spoke with him, I knew the right decision had been made. You don't win 300+ games as a coach in college and in the pros without knowing what you are doing, and I got the sense right away that he knew exactly what he was doing.
He brought in Matt Deschamps, a Maine standout who has certainly helped the forward corps in all zones, to round out the coaching staff without changing much with the rest of the staff and the 2016-17 Saints arrived on campus in the fall with some of the highest expectations of any team in the ECAC, a far cry from where this team was two seasons before.
It was a strong first half for the Saints, with just a brief stumble on the road against UMass-Lowell and Providence, which came without Eric Sweetman in the lineup. Hayton may not have started the way he wanted, but he's been damn near unbeatable since the calendar turned to November, losing just one game and posting three shutouts to break the career shutout record at St. Lawrence.
Mike Marnell is healthy for the first time in a while, and my god is it showing. The junior has 13 points since returning to the lineup against Union, including a four goal game against Brown. His 21 points eclipses the totals he put up in his rookie and sophomore seasons and he's become a legitimate scoring threat every time he's on the ice.
 |
| Marnell's 21 points are second on the team (Jack Lyons) |
Gavin Bayreuther looks as deadly in the offensive zone as he has ever looked, but compared to his rookie season, his defending is miles better. He's one of the most well-rounded defensemen in the league and he's being rewarded, as he continues to lead the team in scoring with 23 points.
Joe Sullivan, a late recruit by Carvel out of the hockey hotbed of Las Vegas, has added an element of scoring to the physical nature of his game. Jake Pritchard is back on the scoring train after a bumpy start and Florida draft pick ben Finkelstein has shown he can skate and defend against the best players in the league while simultaneously helping put the puck in the net for SLU.
 |
| Finkelstein's arrival has made the Saints defense even deadlier (Jack Lyons) |
Mike Ederer is getting more ice time, and he's making good use of it. He's always been a fantastic skater with a lethal shot, and the confidence Morris has shown in Ederer is being rewarded so far. Nolan Gluchowski is playing more aggressive, and though it means he ends up in the box a fair amount, it also means that this Saints team has a bit of a mean streak, and as an old time hockey fan, I love that.
This team has a little bit of everything, from pure skill and speed, to grit, heart and experience. After a 10-5-4 first half that ended with a 3-1 win over Clarkson, the Saints are poised to return to Lake Placid and take the next step.
A matchup with #13 Vermont will kick off the second half before a series at Canisius. Vermont had a similarly strong first half, but one that ended on a sour note after a series sweep at the hands of Union. the Cats are ripe for the picking, and a strong road win can kickstart a good second half. After Canisius, the Saints travel to Brown and Yale and then to Colgate and Cornell before returning home.
That's a seven game road-trip to start 2017, just another bit of adversity thrown in the way of the Saints, but this team has the makeup, the leadership, and the desire to battle through it. This team is ready to win a championship. It's put in the time, its suffered the defeats and the agony of coming so close but falling just short. Teams like Harvard and Union stand in the way, but this team is ready and capable.
St. Lawrence won the inaugural ECAC tournament in 1962, and have collected six tournament titles in total over ten appearances in the final, but the last one came in 2001. Sixteen years is far too long for one of the oldest programs in the ECAC, and this edition of the Skating Saints absolutely has what it takes to add a seventh to the list. There's just one final push left to go.
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