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Flanagan, Carey lead Saints to 5th Straight win

Posted 2/17/12

The dynamic duo of linemates Kyle Flanagan and Greg Carey each scored a goal and had two assists, leading St. Lawrence University to a 3-2 ECAC Hockey victory over Colgate Friday night for the …

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Flanagan, Carey lead Saints to 5th Straight win

Posted

The dynamic duo of linemates Kyle Flanagan and Greg Carey each scored a goal and had two assists, leading St. Lawrence University to a 3-2 ECAC Hockey victory over Colgate Friday night for the Saints' fifth consecutive win.

The Saints, now 13-15-3 overall, pulled even in ECAC play at 9-9-1, handing the Raiders, 17-11-3, 11-7-1, their fourth consecutive loss in Canton since the 2007-08 season. St. Lawrence has gone from a tie for 12th in the ECAC standings to contending for a possible first round playoff bye in just three weeks with its current win streak. The Saints moved to within two points of fourth-place Harvard with the win and will play the Crimson in the penultimate game of the season.

Carey and Flanagan each scored their 13th goal of the year on Saint power plays and sophomore defenseman Justin Baker scored the eventual game winner, also on a power play, as the Saints built a 3-0 lead before Colgate came back to make it a nailbiter in the final minutes. Carey has scored six goals and has five assists in his last five games while Flanagan has three goals and four assists in the same span.

"Both Kyle and Greg are playing great hockey for us and are going to be key figures in any success we have," said Saint associate head coach Mike Hurlbut. "While they were obviously the key contributors offensively, I thought it was a great effort by everyone on the ice in terms of playing very good defense against what is one of the best teams in the league offensively. That was a big win for us in more than the standings as it affirms that we can play with anyone in the league."

Flanagan opened the scoring at 8:52 as he picked up a rebound of a Carey shot and put it back past Colgate goalie Eric Mihalik on a five-on-three Saint power play and Carey made it a 2-0 game at 17:34 of the first as he took a Flanagan pass, skated down the middle of the slot and snapped a wrist shot under the crossbar.

Flanagan and Carey assisted as Baker scored on a rebound on a major power play 6:40 into the second period to give the Saints the lead, but Mihalik kept the Raiders in it with several big saves on the remainder of the major.

Austin Smith, the nation's leading goal scorer, scored his 33rd of the year on a Colgate power play at 12:22, snapping a string of 23 straight penalty kills by the Saints, and nearly had another just minutes later, but was robbed by Saint sophomore goalie Matt Weninger, who won his fifth in a row.

The Raiders cut it to a 3-2 game with 4:59 to go in regulation when Chris Wagner scored his 11th with a shot inside the right goal post, but while Colgate pulled Mihalik for an extra attacker with 1:10 to go, the Saints were able to hold on for the win.

Weninger finished with 19 saves for the Saints while Mihalik had 23 for Colgate.