Five of six Saints’ goal scorers tallied both a goal and an assists as the No. 15 St. Lawrence men’s hockey team rolled to a 6-2 victory over the University of New Hampshire on Friday night in Appleton Arena. A total of 12 players recorded points to help the Scarlet and Brown improve to 2-1-0 on the year.
Jacob Pritchard, Ryan Garvey, Woody Hudson, Gavin Bayreuther, Joe Sullivan and Carson Gicewicz scored for St. Lawrence Friday night in the team’s regular season home opener, with Gicewicz notching his first collegiate goal to round out the scoring midway through the third period.
St. Lawrence also found it’s rhythm with the man advantage, finishing 2-for-7 with power play goals from Pritchard and Bayreuther. Both New Hampshire goals came on the power play.
Pritchard opened the scoring for the Saints just over three minutes into the first period with a one-timer from the low left circle off a feed from Sullivan. Sullivan and Drew Smolcynski passed back and forth on the left side three times to free up the Macomb, Mich. native for the shot and a 1-0 St. Lawrence lead.
Midway through the opening frame, Garvey deflected a shot from fellow first-year Ben Finkelstein for his second career goal, with Hudson also assisting. The helper is the first collegiate point for Finkelstein.
After taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission, Hudson extended it to 3-0 with his first of the year and the eventual game winner at 7:47 of the second. Garvey hit the Greece, N.Y. native with a lead pass as he came down the right wing alone. Hudson carried into the zone and snapped off a shot that beat UNH netminder Adam Clark low inside the far post.
The Wildcats cut the deficit to two goal with a power play goal by Patrick Grasso at 12:44 of the second, but the Saints went on to score three straight to put the game out of reach for the visitors.
Bayreuther’s power play goal not two minutes later extended the lead to 2-1 and Joe Sullivan deflected a shot at the side of the net with .3 seconds remaining in the middle frame for the fifth Saints goal.
Gicewicz concluded the scoring for St. Lawrence midway through the third after stealing the puck from the Wildcats deep in their own zone with an aggressiver forecheck. He touched it forward to Pritchard who then backhanded a pass back to the Orchard Park, N.Y. native on the left faceoff dot for a quick wrister and a 6-1 lead for the home team.
Tyler Kelleher bested netminder Kyle Hayton with the final UNH goal with 1:33 remaining in the game with the Wildcats on the power play, but it was too little, too late.
The Saints posted a dominant 40-18 advantage in shots, as Clark finished with 34 saves for New Hampshire and Hayton made 16 stops for the Saints.
St. Lawrence will return to Appleton Arena on Saturday night to face another Hockey East opponent in Merrimack at 7 p.m.
