St. Lawrence Upends Big Green, 3-1, On Senior Night

Saturday, February 25

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

ST. LAWRENCE

St. Lawrence Upends Big Green, 3-1, On Senior Night

2/25/2012 10:35:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - Freshman Brandon McNally (Saugus, Mass.) scored his sixth goal in as many games, but the Dartmouth men's hockey team fell to St. Lawrence, 3-1, in the 2011-12 regular-season finale Saturday night at Thompson Arena.

By virtue of the Saints' (14-17-3, 10-11-1 ECAC Hockey) win, coupled with the Big Green's (11-14-4, 8-11-3) loss and a Yale tie at Quinnipiac, Dartmouth will be the No. 9 seed in the ECAC Hockey Tournament and will take on No. 8 St. Lawrence next weekend in Canton.

Two goals by the visitors in tonight's game just 1:47 apart near the end of the first period proved to be the difference as Kyle Flanagan and George Hughes netted markers to put their team up 2-0 headed into the first intermission.

McNally scored his 10th of the season 2:07 into the middle period while the Big Green were on the lone power play of the night for either team.

Senior Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) started the play near his own blue line with a long pass up to sophomore Eric Robinson (Foxboro, Mass.) breaking into the zone.

A defender separated Robinson from the puck, but McNally was able to take control and come in on Saints' netminder Matt Weninger. Like his goal Friday against Clarkson, McNally made a move to his left and beat the St. Lawrence goaltender with a wrist shot over the blocker.

That would be the lone offensive bright spot of the night for Dartmouth as an empty-net goal from Gunnar Hughes with 10 seconds left in the third sealed the win.

Senior Jody O'Neill (Nepean, Ontario) got the start in goal for the Big Green, making 21 saves. Weninger stopped 28 in earning the win, including 11 in both the second and third period as Dartmouth pushed for the equalizer.

The Saints' Greg Carey was whistled for the only penalty of the game, a tripping call just 28 seconds into the second. That penalty resulted in the McNally power-play goal.

These two teams played three times this season with a non-conference tie in the championship game of the 2011 Ledyard Classic on Dec. 31 (SLU was declared the winner with a 3-2 shootout result). The Big Green won the league game in upstate New York, 3-1, on Nov. 18, while the Saints won its conference road game by the same score in Hanover to wrap up the regular season.

The ECAC Hockey First Round series from Appleton Arena in Canton, N.Y., will begin on Friday night with Game 1 set for a 7 p.m. puck drop. Game 2 will be Saturday night and, if necessary, a Game 3 will be Sunday afternoon.

NOTES: All 10 members of the senior class suited up for the first time in one game since coming to Hanover ... This game marked the second St. Lawrence/Dartmouth match-up of the afternoon at Thompson as the women's teams played Game 2 of the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals earlier ... Senior night ceremonies followed the conclusion of game and honored the largest senior class in the league ... If all three games are played next weekend, the Big Green will finish the season having played the Saints six times, tying the program record for most games played against one opponent in a single season. Dartmouth and Vermont also met six times in the 2004-05 season, the Catamounts' final year in ECAC Hockey before moving to Hockey East... Dartmouth finishes the season as the only team in Div. I (58 teams) to not have at least 100 power-play opportunities this season (98).