Kalie Grant and Justine Reyes both tallied one goal and one assist to lead the ninth-ranked St. Lawrence University women’s hockey team to a 3-1 win over Yale in an ECAC Hockey contest on Friday night at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Connecticut.
The Saints scored a power play goal in each of the first two periods and added an empty-netter in the final minute of the third to win their third straight game to improve to 7-5-1 overall, 3-0-0 in ECAC Hockey. Yale, which has only played conference games, fell to 1-6-0.
“It’s always a close finish here at the Whale,” said St. Lawrence head coach Chris Wells ’92. “Yale really pushed hard in the third and we caught some huge breaks to keep our 2-1 lead. The last two minutes we hung on and got a few key saves and blocks. Reyes finished in the empty net and we are happy to leave with two points.
“We started great and really controlled the game, made some great plays and hit a pile of posts. That was a good win coming off the two-week break.”
Grant took a pass from Reyes on the left side and skated in front before lifting a shot over Yale goaltender Tera Hofmann’s left shoulder for her third goal of the season with less than four minutes to play in the first to give the Saints a 1-0 lead. Nadine Edney also picked up an assist on the play.
The lead, however, was short-lived, as the Bulldogs’ Rebecca Vanstone tied the score with just 17 seconds to play in the period, one-timing a centering pass from Emma Vlasic low to the left side of the net.
The Saints regained the lead halfway through the second once again on the power play, with Maggie McLaughlin parking in the slot and one-timing a pass from Rachael Smith through the five hole for her third goal of the season. Amanda Butterfield got the play started, knocking a puck tied up on the side boards to Smith to pick up her first point of the season.
Yale almost tied the game late in the closing seconds of the period again, but St. Lawrence goaltender Grace Harrison made one save and another shot sailed wide to send the Saints to intermission with a 2-1 lead.
Early in the third period, Yale rookie Charlotte Welch deflected a shot right in front of the net and the puck arced high over Harrison and bounced twice right on the goal line before Lydia Grauer swept it out of the crease to preserve the Saints’ lead.
Jessica Poirier almost gave the Saints a two-goal cushion on a breakaway near the midpoint of the third, but her shot rang off the post.
Yale pulled Hofmann with two and a half minutes to play and applied a great deal of pressure in the Saints’ defensive zone for two full minutes. The Bulldogs cycled the puck and attempted eight shots; Harrison made one save and the exhausted St. Lawrence defenders blocked three more before Reyes gathered the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle and fired it the length of the ice and into the empty net to put the game away. Jacquie Diffley and Grant picked up assists.
Harrison made 16 saves to improve to 5-1-1 on the season. Hofmann stopped 34 shots for the Bulldogs.
The Saints continued to excel in special teams, converting on 2-of-3 power play opportunities and killing off were 2-for-3 on the power play and killed off Yale’s only opportunity.
St. Lawrence heads to Providence, Rhode Island, to face Brown on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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