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SYMINGTON MVP AS SAINTS REPEAT AS ECAC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS Mar. 18: St. Lawrence University senior
goaltender Jeremy Symington had to wait three seasons for his chance
to stand between Symington, who stopped 50 of 55 shots in a first-round tournament sweep of Union, was virtually unbeatable between the pipes at Lake Placid. He shut out Dartmouth 2-0, making 42 saves, in the semifinals and ran his streak of scoreless minutes at the 1980 Rink to 118:54 in the championship game before Cornell scored a goal on him with its goaltender out for an extra attacker and the Saints atop a 3-0 lead. He had 31 saves in the championship game and stopped 73 of 74 shots in the championship round to earn Most Valuable Player honors, the second straight Saint goalie to hoist that piece of hardware. Saint freshman Derek Gustafson, who left at the end of last season for the pros, earned MVP honors and shut out Rensselaer in the championship game. Symington expanded on a streak of over 149 minutes of scoreless hockey at Lake Placid in the last two tournaments and ran it to 208:22 before Cornell's late goal. "Symie was unbelievable," said Saint coach Joe Marsh, who became the first ECAC coach to win five ECAC tournament titles. "He almost had the back-to-back shutouts. We were all pulling for that, but obviously, one goal in the championship round is an incredible effort. "People were saying that we had to find a replacement for Gusty, but I knew all along that we had replacements for Gusty. This guy did a fabulous job…I think everyone in the room is ecstatic for him. He paid his dues, stuck by his team and his team stuck by him. You saw the result." While Symington was the star of the weekend, he had plenty of help from his teammates as the Saints put on a brilliant defensive display. While the Saints were outshot in both tournament games, the majority of the shots came from the perimeter and out near the blue line and the Saints did an excellent job of clearing rebounds. In the Cornell game, the Saints challenged nearly every shot and had 16 blocked shots for the game. "We were pretty banged up, but that might have been the best effort by any of our teams that I remember," said Marsh. "We had a lot of guys who sucked it up and showed tremendous character. "The seniors were freshmen when we barely made it to the tournament in 1998. To get to the finals three years in a row is tremendous. I don't think I have ever had a team that has played for each other as much as this one has. There is a special bond between these guys." The Saints took an early lead in the title game when Russ Bartlett beat the Cornell defense to a loose puck and rifled a shot over the shoulder of Cornell goalie Matt Underhill at 9:32 of the first period. Robin Carruthers started the play when he set up Blair Clarance right in front of Underhill, and while Clarance's shot went over the crossbar, the rebound bounced back into the slot and Bartlett put it away for his 17th goal of the season. The Saints stepped it up offensively in the second period, outshooting Cornell 10-6, and cashed in for their second goal when Alan Fyfe took the puck away from a Cornell defender in the neutral zone, made a quick move around another Big Red player and found Mike Gellard with a pass to send him into the Cornell end. Clarance, who had come off the bench to start a line change, rushed the net and Gellard hit him on the tape with a pass to send the sophomore one-on-one with Underhill. Clarance's shot beat Underhill cleanly for his 11th of the season at 3:26 to give the Saints their 2-0 lead. Symington had 16 of his 31 saves in the third period as Cornell opened it up to try to get back into it, and Fyfe effectively sealed the championship when he scored into an empty net for his 16th of the year at 17:24. Cornell pulled Underhill for the extra attacker again and David Kozier scored in a mad scramble in front of Symington at 18:54 to ruin the shutout bid, but the Saints held off the Big Red in the final 1:06 to set the stage for another triumphant celebration at the 1980 Rink. The win was the 20th of the year for
the Saints, who will take a In the semifinal against Dartmouth Robin Carruthers, who scored the game-winning goal in the epic 3-2 quadruple overtime game against Boston University in the NCAA tournament last March, scored his second and third post-season goals this season to provide all of the scoring in the semifinal win. Three of his six goals this season have come in the tournament and the first one Friday was his second post-season game winner. "I think our experience showed tonight. We have a lot of guys who have been here before, and that kind of experience doesn't do you any good if you don't use it," said Marsh. The Saints improved to 8-0 in ECAC tournament semifinal games under Marsh with Friday's win and are now 4-0 in post-season tournament semifinal games at Lake Placid, including a 3-2 win over Minnesota in the 1988 NCAA semifinals. The current Saints are the second team in SLU history to earn three straight ECAC championship game appearances and the second team to win back-to-back championships, joining the 1988 and 1989 teams. Carruthers provided the only goal the Saints would need at 1:28 of the second period when he tipped a shot from the point by Josh LeRoy past Dartmouth goalie Nick Boucher. Jim Lorentz also assisted to run his ECAC tournament scoring streak to three games as the Saints broke the scoring ice in what had been an even game to that point. Both teams had some chances in the first period, but the goaltenders came up big and Dartmouth got some help from the posts. The Saints had a chance to increase their lead when Erik Anderson made a great play on the penalty kill and sent Matt Desrosiers away in a race for a loose puck. Boucher came out to play it, but a diving Desrosiers got a stick on it and slid it under the goaltender, only to see the puck hit the post and stay out of the empty net. It went to 2-0 at 6:39 of the third period as Carruthers stepped out of the penalty box after serving a minor and Clarance found him with a long lead pass. Carruthers broke in on Boucher and buried his sixth of the year to give the Saints an insurance goal. Symington had 18 of his 42 saves in the third period, but 14 of them came from outside the faceoff dots as Dartmouth could not get inside consistently on the Saint defense. Boucher finished with 22 saves for the Big Green. Symington was both all tournament goalie and MVP and was joined on the all tournament team by Clarance and Desrosiers. Also named were Cornell defenseman Doug Murray and forward David Francis and Harvard forward Tyler Kolarik. Harvard beat Dartmouth 3-2 in overtime to take third place in the tournament. SAINTS TO PLAY COLORADO COLLEGE IN NCAA TOURNAMENT OPENING ROUND Mar. 18: Two of the smallest schools in terms of enrollment in NCAA Division I ice hockey will meet in the opening round of the NCAA East Regional hockey tournament in Worcester, MA on Friday as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team, 2001 ECAC champions, drew Colorado College in the opening round of the tournament. The Saints and Colorado College will meet for the second time in NCAA tournament play at 5 p.m. Friday in Worcester with the winner advancing to meet defending national champion North Dakota in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 5 p.m. St. Lawrence earned its bid with a 3-1 ECAC championship win over Cornell on Saturday night in Lake Placid and is the sole ECAC representative in the field. Colorado College, 26-12-1, finished third in the WCHA tournament after a fourth-place finish in the regular season and was awarded the third seed in the eastern regional. The two teams last met in the 1999 NCAA tournament with Colorado College taking a 5-2 decision over the Saints. The 8:30 p.m. second first-round game in Worcester will match Maine and Minnesota with the winner advancing to meet top seed Boston College, 30-8-2 in the 8:30 p.m. Saturday semifinal. Michigan State was the top seed in the West with St. Cloud earning the second seed and the other bye. Third seeded Michigan plays MAAC champion Mercyhurst while Hockey East runner-up Providence meets Wisconsin in the other first round games on Saturday in Grand Rapids. ANDERSON ECAC PLAYER
OF THE YEAR, (Mar. 15): St. Lawrence University senior
men’s hockey captain Erik
The Saint senior heads into the ECAC championship round among the top players in the nation in scoring. He ranks fourth nationally in points per game with 50 points in 29 games, an average of 1.72 points per game and is third nationally in assists per game at 1.17. He enters the ECAC semifinals with 16 goals and 34 assists. Joining Anderson on the ECAC first team
is senior left wing Mike Senior defenseman Matt Desrosiers was
also named to the first team All Joining Anderson, Gellard, Desrosiers
and Huskins on the first team all
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the
pipes in a post-season tournament game. He made the best of his opportunity
and turned in one of the outstanding performances in Eastern College
Athletic Conference tournament history in the semifinals and championship
game at Lake Placid, backstopping the Saints to their second straight
tournament title and a chance to keep on playing in the NCAA tournament.
Anderson
was also named to one of three first-team all star forward spots and
has been selected as one of the ten finalists for the Hobey Baker
Award. He is the third player in Saint history to be chosen as