St. Lawrence University's men's hockey team will look to build off a solid finish to the 2010-11 season as they embark on the 75th season in the history of the program, beginning with an exhibition game against Carleton College on Sunday Oct. 2.

The Saints, coming off a 13-22-5 season which saw a first-round road playoff series upset of fifth-ranked Princeton and a three-game series in the quarterfinals against eventual ECAC champion Yale, will begin official NCAA competition with a two-game set against Ferris State on Oct. 7-8. The schedule, which includes 17 games in the friendly confines of Appleton Arena is less taxing in terms of travel than the 2010-11 slate which challenged a young lineup with 20 regular season road-games, but includes some challenging competition. The Saints will play at Michigan on the second week of the regular season in a rare Thursday game and will play RIT at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester on the way back to Canton on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Other non-league challenges include a pair against Michigan Tech at Appleton Nov. 25-26, a non-league game with Clarkson at Lake Placid on Dec. 10 followed by a game at Vermont on Dec. 17 to end first semester competition. The Saints will take on Merrimack in game one of the Auld Lang Syne Tournament at Dartmouth on Dec. 30 and will meet either Holy Cross or host Dartmouth in game two of the tournament on New Year's Eve. They host Minnesota State on Jan. 6-7 to conclude the non-league portion of the schedule.

The Saint coaching staff underwent some changes during the off-season as associate head coach Bob Prier was named head coach at Princeton, but head coach Joe Marsh elevated assistant Mike Hurlbut to associate head coach and brought in former Saint captain Greg Carvel, who has an extensive pro background including a stint as an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators as the assistant coach.

"Greg certainly knows what St. Lawrence and its hockey program are all about as both an outstanding athlete and an outstanding scholar, and he brings a wealth of professional experience with him. He was the coach of the Senator's penalty kill and that was among the best in the league in the stretch run last year. I know the players are excited about having him as part of the staff and certainly Mike Hurlbut and I look forward to working with him," said Marsh.

A sophomore class which ranked among the top recruiting classes in the nation a year ago made solid contributions to the Saint success, particularly in the playoff run, and will be a key to the Saint success in the upcoming season. The Saints have also added six freshman recruits to go with six returning juniors and seven returning seniors on a 28-man roster.

Senior captain Jacob Drewiske (12-20-32 in 96 career games), junior captain Kyle Flanagan (17-46-63 in 71 career games) and junior assistant captain George Hughes (9-34-44 in 81 games) will provide the leadership for the Saints in 2011-12 with Drewiske and Flanagan expected to be key components offensively while Hughes leads the defensive unit.

Sophomore Greg Carey, who had the most productive goal scoring season for a Saint rookie since the 1950s, returns to lead the offense after scoring 23 goals and putting up 40 points in his initial collegiate season. Kyle Flanagan was the second leading scorer for the Saints with 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points while Hughes led the defensive unit in scoring with four goals and 17 assists for 21 points.

The Saints will be out to increase their offensive output, which was 10th overall in the league at 2.52 goals per game a year ago, while lowering their team goals against average, which ranked ninth in the 12-team league at 3.10.

"The process was the important part of last season," said Marsh. "I was pleased with where we were in terms of development and how we played in the playoffs. I think we can grow from that, but we will need to build one step at a time."

While they lost Aaron Bogosian (14-14-28), Nick Pitsikoulis (11-6-17), Sean Flanagan (4-14-18) and Jared Keller (2-11-13 in 22 games) to graduation, the potential for increased scoring is there with sophomores Kyle Essery (6-2-8), Nic Vangog (0-8-8), and Jeremy Wick (2-3-5) joining Carey in making significant offensive contributions in the playoffs at the end of last season. Other returnees up front include seniors Max Mobley (2-3-5), Mark Armstrong (1-4-5) and Rick Carden (1-2-3 in 17 games) who missed a big part of last season due to injury. Mac Stratford switched from defense to wing a season ago and joins Flanagan as the returning junior forwards while Sean Logue also returns among the sophomores. Five newcomers will also contend for regular playing time up front. Justin Bruckel scored 22 goals and 52 points for the New Jersey Hitmen in the Eastern Junior Hockey League last season while teammates Tommy Thompson (18-22-40) and Patrick Doherty (9-24-33) join the Saints from the New Hampshire Monarchs of the EJHL. Gunnar Hughes, brother of Saint junior defenseman George Hughes, scored 15 goals and had 11 assists for Waterloo in the USHL while Chris Martin scored 12 goals and had 11 assists for Indiana.

Defensively, the Saints graduated Matt Raley, who played in 36 games a year ago, but return six defensemen who saw considerable game experience a year ago and add a rookie who put up points in junior hockey in addition to playing solid defense. Hughes, who has 44 points in 81 games over two seasons, senior Pete Child (11-14-25, 62 career games) junior Jordan Dewey ( 3-7-10 in 64 career games) and junior Matt Dyer (1-3-4 in 33 career games) are the veterans on the blue line while sophomore Justin Baker is coming off a solid rookie campaign (2-10-12 in 36 games) and will be a key for the Saints in his second collegiate season. Riley Austin (1-3-4 in 14 games) will also contend for playing time while Nelson Armstrong is the lone rookie blueliner and scored 11 goals and had 26 assists in addition to playing outstanding defense For the Peterborough Stars and was runner up for Rookie of the Year in the Ontario Provincial Hockey League.

Goaltending should be solid for the Saints, who have four netminders on the roster. Sophomore Matt Weninger played 28 games a year ago and was in the top ten in every goaltending category among ECAC goaltenders with a 2.65 goals against average and a .913 save percentage. Senior Robby Moss played 14 games with a 3.32 goals against average and a .902 save percentage while senior Joe Spadaccini saw action in five games with a 2.71 goals against average and a .868 save percentage and junior David Grilk played in two games and finished with a 6.31 goals against average and a .838 save percentage.