Oct. 3: North Country hockey fans will get a preview of what should be a young and exciting St. Lawrence University men's hockey team when the Saints play Carleton University of Ottawa in an exhibition game at Appleton Arena on Saturday night.

Game Notes

The Saints have played the Ravens on the first weekend of October in each of the last four seasons and have opened with an exhibition game against a Canadian opponent each year since 2008-09. The Saints are 3-1 in their exhibition series with Carleton, winning 4-2 last year. The Ravens beat the Saints 5-2 in the 2011-12 season. SLU is 4-1-1 in the six exhibition games against Canadian schools since 2008. They beat Toronto 2-1 in that year and tied Guelph 2-2 the next.
 
The 2013-14 Saints will be a freshman and sophomore dominated team with eight freshmen and a sophomore transfer joining eight players who are in their second year with the program and made a significant impact as rookies.
 
"We graduated and lost to professional hockey a large percentage of our scoring from last year and will be a very young hockey team," said coach Greg Carvel, who is entering his third season at the Saint helm. "Two-thirds of our team will be freshmen and sophomores as well as all of our defense and most likely our starting goaltender. I believe we have a strong freshman class, many of which will be expected to play big roles on our team from day one. As always with a young team, we will have our growing pains, but I am excited about our future."
 
The majority of the key players for the Saints will see action in Saturday's exhibition. Sophomore defenseman Gavin Bayreuther, ECAC co-Rookie of the Year last season, the leading scorer among all rookie defensemen nationally and a pre-season all-star will sit the game out as a precaution after off-season wrist surgery and Christian Horn, a transfer from Minnesota will not be available for game action until the Miami series in late October.
 
The Saints will mix veterans and rookies up front for the exhibition with a trio of newcomers listed as the fourth line on the linechart. Mike Marnell, Ryan Lough and Joe Sullivan will make their Saint debut as forwards on Saturday while Mitch Eden, Nolan Gluchowski and Matt Purmal will play on defense.
 
Carvel plans a rotation among three goaltenders for the opener with junior Kyle MacDonald starting, sophomore Tyler Parks playing the second period and rookie Kyle Hayton the third.
 
Senior captain Gunnar Hughes (16-35-51 in 109 career games), classmate and assistant captain Patrick Doherty (24-17-41 in 111) and junior Alex Hagen (4-6-10 in 66 games) will play on the first line against Carleton while sophomore Drew Smolcynski (5-6-11, 25 games) will join junior assistant captain Brian Ward, who is in his second year with the Saints (8-9-17 in 38 games), and junior Tommy Thompson, who sat out last season and has eight goals and five assists in 67 career games on the second line. Junior Sean McGovern (1-9-10 in 57) will join sophomores Alexander Dahl (2-8-10 in 33) and Woody Hudson (6-5-11 in 37) on the third line.
 
Senior Chris Martin (19-40-59 in 112 games), who has played both forward and defense during his Saint career, will line up on defense Saturday, paired with junior Ross McMullen (1-1-2 in 25) Sophomore Eric Sweetman (3-12-15 in 38) and rookie Mitch Eden will be another pair while sophomores Mike Graham (1-0-1 in 18) and Ben Masella (0-1-1 in 12) and rookies Matt Purmal and Nolan Gluchowski will round out the lineup as the Saints will dress two extra players for the exhibition game.
 
The Saints will open the 2014-15 season on the road as they play their first official NCAA game at RIT, opening that team's new facility in a game which will be televised by Time Warner Cable on Oct. 10 and completing the opening weekend with a game at Niagara the next night. SLU will host Ferris State, ranked ninth nationally in the pre-season polls, in home openers on Oct. 17-18 and will play at 11^th-ranked Miami Oct. 24-25 in  a challenging start to the new season.
 
Other non-league encounters for the Saints include a home and home set with arch-rival Clarkson on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, a home and home set with Vermont Dec. 12-13 and a pair at 16^th-ranked Northeastern Jan. 2-3. The Saints open ECAC play at Brown and Yale Nov. 7-8.