Another long-standing program record for the St. Lawrence men’s hockey team fell on Saturday, as senior defenseman Gavin Bayreuther scored his 32nd career goal in the second period to help the Saints to a 3-1 win over Rensselaer in Troy, N.Y.
Bayreuther’s goal moves him past former Saints’ standout Brian McColgan ’86 for sole possession of the program’s record for goals by a defenseman which has stood at 31 for the last 28 years.
The Saints improved to 6-4-2 overall and 3-0-1 in ECAC Hockey with a three-point trip to the Capitol District. With Union falling to Clarkson Saturday night, the Saints are the only unbeaten team in the league.
Bayreuther scored the first of two goals in the second period just 31 seconds in with a bomb from the point to secure the record, while fellow senior defenseman Eric Sweetman was credited with the second; the eventual game winner. Joe Sullivan also scored for the Saints just seconds into the third period.
Mike Marnell started the play leading to the Saints first goal when he collected a long rebound after a save by Kyle Hayton and carried into the RPI zone. He and Carson Gicewicz worked the puck in the corner to the left of the RPI net and Marnell threw the puck out in front where it was deflected by an RPI defender and kicked out to Bayreuther on the blue line. He wound up for a no-doubt, one-time slapshot that sailed over Chase Perry’s right shoulder for a 1-0 St. Lawrence lead.
Just two minutes later, Sweetman intentionally shot wide of the net and the puck was seemingly collected by RPI netminder Chase Perry but Perry ended up kicking it into his own net to help the Saints to a 2-0 lead. Nolan Gluchowski and Marnell were credited with assists on the play. Perry was replaced by Cam Hackett between the pipes for RPI after conceding the goal.
The Saints recorded just three shots on goal in the second period – all coming from the team’s trio of assistant captain defensemen in Bayreuther, Sweetman and Ben Masella – and still managed to head to the locker room with a 2-0 lead through 40 minutes of play.
Sullivan would extend that lead to 3-0 just 16 seconds into the final frame after Jacob Pritchard hit him with a centering pass from the right half-wall for a one-timer inside the far post on the blocker side. The Las Vegas, Nev. native leads the Saints with six goals so far this season.
At the 3:10 mark of the third period, RPI’s Patrick Polino spoiled Hayton’s shutout bid three seconds into a power play opportunity with Gluchowski in the box for St. Lawrence after the team’s played four aside for 57 seconds. Polino ripped a one-timer from the slot for his first collegiate goal for the Engineers, but that would be all the
Engineers would get behind the Saints’ netminder who finished with 27 saves.
Perry made six saves in just over 22 minutes in net for RPI, while Hackett finished with 11 stops.
St. Lawrence will host Yale and Brown at Appleton Arena next weekend on Nov. 18-19 before traveling to Belfast, Northern Ireland for the Friendship Four.
