Senior defenseman Gavin Bayreuther and junior goaltender Kyle Hayton had record-tying nights as the St. Lawrence men’s hockey team shutout Princeton 4-0 at Appleton Arena in Canton, N.Y. in its ECAC Hockey opener.
Bayreuther tied Brian McColgan’s 28-year-old record for career goals by a defenseman with his 31st in the second period, while Hayton’s 29-save shutout performance tied Bill Sloan’s 60-year-old record for career shutouts with nine.
With the win, the Saints improve to 4-4-1 overall and are 1-0-0 in conference games, while Princeton drops to 0-2-0 and 0-1-0.
Bayreuther, Jacob Pritchard, Ben Finkelstein and Alexander Dahl each had multi-point nights for St. Lawrence, with Bayreuther and Pritchard recording a goal and an assist each, and Finkelstein and Dahl finishing with a pair of assists.
Hayton was outstanding in between the pipes, making nearly a third of his saves from point-blank range at the edge of the crease. The Saints defense was also on against the Tigers, getting sticks in passing lanes, blocking shots and doing their best to clear rebounds to limit second-chance opportunities for the visitors.
First-year center Carson Gicewicz put the Saints in front for good at the 16:30 mark of the first period when he deposited a carom off the end boards behind Tigers’ netminder Colton Phinney for his third of the year after Finkelstein sent a shot high. The goal is the third of the year for the Orchard Park, N.Y. native. Bayreuther also assisted on the play.
Early in the second, it was Bayreuther who extended the lead to 2-0 with his record-tying goal; the fourth of the season for the senior assistant captain. After Pritchard sent a shot wide, Michael Ederer collected the puck at the left post and hit Bayreuther in the slot for a one-timer.
At the 4:35 mark of the final frame, Pritchard tallied the Saints second shorthanded goal in as many games, to make it 3-0 in favor of the Scarlet and Brown.
In the minute leading up the goal the teams were playing four-on-four after Princeton’s Matt Nelson was sent off for boarding after a hard hit on the Saints’ Drew Smolcynski right in front of the home bench. One minute into that power play opportunity for St. Lawrence, Gicewicz was called for a hook to even the man power.
But just 10 seconds after Nelson’s penalty expired Pritchard buried a rebound from one knee at the bottom of the right circle for his third of the year with Dahl and Finkelstein assisting.
And with under two minutes remaining, and a mere nine seconds after being released from the penalty box, Joe Sullivan iced the win with an empty-net goal for the Saints.
Princeton outshot the Saints 29-25, as Phinney finished with 21 saves in the loss.
Both teams took seven penalties and finished 0-6 on the power play.
Next up for the Saints is No. 6/7 Quinnipiac, as they host the Bobcats in Appleton Arena on Saturday night at 7 p.m.
