The No. 3 seeded St. Lawrence University men's hockey team will host No. 4 seed Colgate in an ECAC Hockey semifinal at Appleton Arena on Thursday, March 18, at 5 p.m.
The winner of the game will face top-seeded Quinnipiac in Hamden, Connecticut on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the ECAC Hockey championship game.
THURSDAY, 5 p.m. | APPLETON ARENA | CANTON, N.Y.
Watch: ESPN+ (US) |
Stretch Internet (International)
Listen: 95.3 The Wolf / 92.7 WQTK
Live Stats: https://saintsathletics.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
SAINTS GAME NOTES
THE ROAD TO THE PLAYOFFS
- After being swept by Quinnipiac in a pair of ECAC Hockey games on February 26-27, the Saints were scheduled to face Clarkson four times in eight days to close the regular season, but those games were canceled after team activities were paused due to COVID-19 protocols.
- As a result of those lost four games, ECAC Hockey shifted its seeding model to percentage of points won and the Saints claimed the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. When Clarkson announced that its season was over on March 10, the Saints shifted from playing the second-seeded Golden Knights at Cheel Arena in Potsdam to hosting No. 4 seed Colgate in the lone tournament semifinal. The winner will face top-seeded Quinnipiac for the league title on Saturday at 4 p.m.
- St. Lawrence, which resumed practice on Sunday, enters the playoffs on a six-game winless streak. The Saints have struggled offensively over that stretch, scoring a total of 11 goals.
- Cameron Buhl leads St. Lawrence with 13 points on three goals and 10 assists. Kaden Pickering has a team-high six goals and four assists for 10 points. Emil Zetterquist has a .928 save percentage and a 2.35 goals against average in 14 starts.
- The Saints were a bit shorthanded over the final month of the regular season; senior captains Dylan Woolf and Callum Cusinato were both unavailable due to injuries and have not played since January 24.
SERIES HISTORY
- St. Lawrence has an 82-76-7 lead in the all-time series with Colgate and is 46-33-2 in games in Canton.
- Colgate won the season series 3-2-1, though the teams split the points in the series 9-9, as St. Lawrence posted a shootout win and an overtime loss.
- The Raiders hold a 10-8 advantage over the Saints in playoff games and have advanced to the next round in five of eight opportunities. St. Lawrence, however, is 4-0 against the Raiders in playoff games in Appleton Arena, having swept Colgate in the league quarterfinals in 2007 and first round in 2013.
SCOUTING COLGATE
- Colgate wrapped up the regular season with a 4-3 win over Quinnipiac on March 6, snapping a six-game winless streak. The Raiders struggled defensively down the stretch, allowing at least three goals in their final five games, including a 9-0 loss to Quinnipiac on February 13.
- Colgate has struggled with their special teams this season, ranking 47th nationally on the power play and 46th on the penalty kill out of 51 teams competing this year.
- The penalty kill has succeeded just 74.4% of the time, while the power play has converted just 11.4% of its opportunities.
- Alex Young leads the Raiders with six goals and 13 points, while Josh McKechney has six goals and 11 points. Matt Verboon (4g-6a-10p) and Griffin Lunn (3g-7a-10p) also have double-digit point totals.
- Carter Gylander has been Colgate's primary goaltender, starting 15 of 18 games and posting a 2.57 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.
SAINTS VS. RAIDERS: ECAC PLAYOFF HISTORY
| Year |
Round |
H/A/N |
W/L |
Score |
| 1994 |
First Round |
A |
L |
3-4 |
| 2003 |
First Round |
A |
W |
2-1 |
|
|
A |
L |
2-3 |
|
|
A |
L |
2-5 |
| 2004 |
Quarterfinals |
A |
W |
2-1 |
|
|
A |
L |
0-1 |
|
|
A |
L |
1-2 |
| 2007 |
Quarterfinals |
H |
W |
6-1 |
|
|
H |
W |
5-1 |
| 2008 |
First Round |
A |
W |
5-2 |
|
|
A |
L |
2-3 |
|
|
A |
L |
1-3 |
| 2010 |
Quarterfinals |
A |
W |
2-1 |
|
|
A |
W |
4-3 |
| 2013 |
First Round |
H |
W |
4-2 |
|
|
H |
W |
4-1 |
| 2014 |
Quarterfinals |
A |
L |
1-2 |
|
|
A |
L |
3-4 |
| 2015 |
Semifinals |
N |
L |
3-4 |
Overall Playoff Record vs. Colgate: 9-10
Record at Appleton: 4-0
Record in Hamilton: 5-9
Record in Lake Placid: 0-1
SAINTS ALL-TIME PLAYOFF RECORD
|
Home |
Away |
Neutral |
Total |
| ECAC |
39-11-0 |
14-42-3 |
17-15-1 |
70-68-4 |
| NCAA |
1-3 |
0-5 |
4-17 |
5-25 |
| Total |
40-14-0 |
14-47-3 |
21-31-1 |
75-93-4 |
SAINTS ECAC HOCKEY RECENT CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
- St. Lawrence is looking for its first trip to the ECAC Hockey championship game since 2001, when the Saints best Cornell 3-1 to claim their sixth league title.
- Since that time, St. Lawrence has lost in the semifinals five times (2007, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2016).
NATION'S FOURTH-RANKED PK
- St. Lawrence's penalty kill is ranked fourth nationally with an 89.5% success rate.
- The Saints were ranked No. 1 nationally in the penalty kill prior to their series with Quinnipiac on February 26-27, but the Bobcats went 3-for-12 on the power play over St. Lawrence's final two games of the regular season to drop the Saints down a few spots.
- The Saints have allowed just six power play goals this season and have three shorthanded tallies for a net score of -3 when skating shorthanded, tied for No. 1 in the nation with Bemidji State.
STRONG STARTS
- St. Lawrence has been strong out of the gate this season, outscoring the opposition 13-9 in the first period.
- The Saints have been outscored 13-11 in the second period and 16-7 in the third.
STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE HARD, NO MERCY
- St. Lawrence has scored first in nine of 15 games this season and is 3-3-3 in those games.
- Last year, the Saints scored the game's first goal in just 13 of 36 games and was 3-7-3 in those contests.
GET SHORTY
- Kaden Pickering has scored two shorthanded goals this season, and Jordan Steinmetz scored another.
- The last time St. Lawrence scored three shorthanded goals in a season was 2017-18, and the last player to score two in a season was Joe Sullivan '18, also in 2017-18.
ZETTERQUIST'S SEASON TOP-10 WORTHY
- Emil Zetterquist has a .928 save percentage this season, which ranks 12th nationally, and his performance has been among the best in St. Lawrence goaltending history.
- Zetterquist's current save percentage ranks sixth in the Saints' single-season record book. He has allowed fewer than three goals in eight of his 14 starts, and allowed more than three goals just twice this year.
ECAC HOCKEY AWARDS
Several St. Lawrence players earned awards and were named finalists for major ECAC Hockey awards this season.
* Winner has not been announced
SHOT BLOCKING LEADERS
- Luc Salem and Philip Alftberg have been a big part of the Saints' defensive efforts this season.
- Salem leads ECAC Hockey with 1.60 blocked shots per game, with Alftberg ranking fourth (1.33).
FEWEST GAMES IN 50 YEARS
- Regardless of when St. Lawrence's season ends, this year's schedule will include the fewest games played in 50 years.
- If the Saints advance all the way to the NCAA Championship, they will play in 21 games this season, the same number that the 1960-61 team (which, coincidentally, lost to Denver in the NCAA Championship game).
