X

Saints, Hayton edge Colgate 4-2 in whiteout men's hockey game

Posted 1/30/16

Junior Drew Smolcynski scored a pair of goals and sophomore goaltender Kyle Hayton made 35 of his season-high 45 saves in the second and third periods as St. Lawrence held off Colgate 4-2 in a ECAC …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Saints, Hayton edge Colgate 4-2 in whiteout men's hockey game

Posted

Junior Drew Smolcynski scored a pair of goals and sophomore goaltender Kyle Hayton made 35 of his season-high 45 saves in the second and third periods as St. Lawrence held off Colgate 4-2 in a ECAC Hockey game at Appleton Arena Friday night.

With a crowd of 2133 looking on at the rink and television audiences in the US and Canada, the Saints swept the season series with Colgate and moved to within aChristian Horn, Tommy Thompson, and Matt Purmal wait for Joe Sullivan after Sullivan's first period goal Friday point of fifth place in the standings heading into a Saturday game against Cornell. The Saints improved to 12-11-2 overall and pulled even at 6-6-1 in league play while Colgate is now 7-17-2 overall and 3-9-2 in the ECAC.

"I thought we came out and played a real good first period," said Saint coach Greg Carvel. "They pushed back in the second and we weren't quite ready for the push back. In the second and third period Kyle Hayton was outstanding. They're a very good offensive team and we gave them a little bit too much, but Kyle saved us a few times."

The Saints got off to a good start as sophomore Joe Sullivan scored his fourth goal in the last five games on a tip in of defenseman Ben Masella's shot from the point 3:34 into the game. Smolcynski then scored his fifth of the year, taking a pass from Brian Ward and putting a backhander over the shoulder of Colgate goalie Charlie Finn at 6:52.

Colgate came flying back in the second period. The Raiders outshot the Saints 20-11 and pulled even with goals just under six minutes appear. Mike Panowyck got the first one as the Raiders forced a Saint turnover and Panowyck scored is fourth of the year from in close at 3:43 and freshman Rory McGuire scored his first collegiate goal on a deflection at 9:35 to tie it.

Hayton made some huge saves the rest of the way and the Saints regained the lead when Smolcynski scored his second of the night on a power play one-timer off Ward's pass at 18:30 of the second.

Colgate kept the pressure on in the third period and had a 17-5 edge in shots, but Hayton stood up to the barrage and senior Sean McGovern iced the win with his fifth of the year into the empty net with 49 seconds to play.

"I thought we created a lot of scoring chances. The shots were pretty one-sided, but I thought we had opportunities. Every two points is huge and that was a big win for us. It was fun to have the building full and a TV game. We had the game going our way in the first period, but they came back in the second and made it a contest," Carvel added.

Finn finished with 22 saves for Colgate which had a 47-26 advantage in shots on goal.