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Terriers end SLU streak against Hockey East, 4-0

Posted 11/24/12

Saturday night continued to be anything but all right for St. Lawrence University's men's hockey team as tenth-ranked Boston University dominated the game from nearly the opening faceoff and skated …

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Terriers end SLU streak against Hockey East, 4-0

Posted

Saturday night continued to be anything but all right for St. Lawrence University's men's hockey team as tenth-ranked Boston University dominated the game from nearly the opening faceoff and skated to a 4-0 win, ending an eight game unbeaten streak against Hockey East teams for the Saints.

The Saints and Terriers squared off for the first time since the 2008 season, a 4-1 BU win at Agganis Arena and SLU was in quest of its first victory in Boston against BU since 1977. They're still looking as since that 8-6 win, the Terriers have won eight straight on home turf. The Terriers improve to 7-4-0 with the win while the Saints are now 6-4-2 with all four losses coming in Saturday night encounters. The Saints are now 7-1-1 against Hockey East teams since January of 2010.

"There is no question that BU is the best team we have played thus far," said Saint coach Greg Carvel. "Their record was a little deceptive going in because all four of their losses have come against teams ranked in the top ten. We needed to play a nearly perfect game, and while Matt Weninger held us in there with a great game, we couldn't convert when we had a few chances."

While BU dominated the first period, Weninger kept the Saints in the game with 16 saves, several of them from in tight. The only shot which got by the Saint junior came off the stick of Canton's Wade Megan and was in and out so fast that it required a video review to be confirmed. Megan took the puck from defenseman Ahti Oksanen, paused in the left faceoff dot and snapped a rocket which ticked off the crossbar, hit the back of the net and came right back out. Megan's seventh of his senior season came at the 11:15 mark and was the only scoring in the first period.

Weninger continued to keep the Saints in contention with another big series of stops among 21 in the second period, but couldn't stop freshman Sam Kurker on a late two-on-one. The Saints turned the puck over in their own end and Kurker and Sahir Gill headed up ice on the break. Gill made the goal mouth pass and Kurker buried his first collegiate goal to make it a 2-0 game with 1:06 left in the second.

The Saints did create a couple of good scoring opportunities with the score still 1-0, but BU goalie Sean Maguire was up to the task, stopping both Greg Carey and Jeremy Wick in close midway through the period.

The Terriers made it a 3-0 game at 13:05 of the third when Ben Rosen poked home a loose puck after Weninger made a stop on Ryan Ruikka's shot, but the rebound flipped up in the air and dropped right in the crease where Rosen was able to put it away. Junior Matt Nieto finished things off for the Terriers as he skated into the Saint zone in the final minute and ripped a shot between Weninger's stick and the post at 19:29.1 to make it a 4-0 game.

Maguire finished with 21 saves to earn his first career shutout while Weninger had a season-high 43 saves in an outstanding effort for the Saints.