Mar. 13: St. Lawrence University senior defenseman Chris Martin fired a shot toward net with a tangle of players in front and it found its way past Rensselaer goalie Jason Kasdorf off one of his defensemen, lifting the Saints to a 1-0 victory with just 51.2 seconds to play in regulation time in the first of a best-of-three ECAC quarterfinal series between the two teams at Appleton Arena Friday night.
 
Saint freshman goalie Kyle Hayton, who broke out a new St. Lawrence-themed mask for the first time this season, set the Saint single-season record for shutouts, earning his fifth with a big first period and some key stops along the rest of the way. Hayton made 13 of his 27 saves in the first period as the Saints showed a little rust after a week off with the bye as the second seed in the tournament.
 
Hayton had a number of one-goal games in January after posting four shutout wins in the first two months of the season, and lost one shutout with under a minute to go. He got the Saint record in his first playoff start, recording the sixth shutout in SLU post-season history.
 
"Kyle made some tremendous saves early and continued through the course of the game. Every save in a 1-0 game is a big one," said Saint coach Greg Carvel. "It is great to see him get the record. He had some shots at it earlier, but a 1-0 win in his first playoff start makes it special."

Martin's goal, his third of the season came after junior wing Alex Hagen took the puck away from a RPI defender after a RPI faceoff win in its own zone. Hagen got the puck to Woody Hudson, who passed it back to Martin, who shot it from the point for the game-winner. It was the sixth post-season playoff meeting between the two New York State rivals and the sixth straight Saint victory, five in ECAC play and one in the 1961 NCAA tournament.
 
""I thought we were a little rusty in the first period, and it was to be expected after the layoff," said Carvel. "I thought we improved more and more as the game went on. It was one of those games in which you just can't get frustrated and I thought we handled that well."
 
The 19-13-3 Saints will be out to end the 12-25-3 Engineers season and advance to Lake Placid for the ECAC semifinals in game two at Appleton Saturday night. If RPI can even the series, the two teams will meet again on Sunday with the winner advancing.
 
Kasdorf was almost as good as Hayton and just a little bit busier for the Engineers. He made 33 saves, 25 of them in the second and third periods as the Saints improved their play through the course of the game. SLU improves to 10-5-1 on home ice this season and 36-8-0 in home ECAC playoff games with Friday's series opening win.
 
"Marty's game winner wasn't pretty, but there was a lot of traffic in front," said Carvel. "That's the kind of goal you have to get against their goalie. He is very good and you need to try to screen him as much as you can.
 
"I thought we controlled the game after the first period, but they made it hard to get to the net. We started finding our speed and energy after the first period and were much better with the puck. It was good to get the first game after the bye and I think we will be in better shape for tomorrow's second game," Carvel added.