Sophomore center Kyle Flanagan snapped a scoreless tie with a five-on-three power play goal 6:47 into the third period and freshman goaltender Matt Weninger made 29 saves for his first collegiate shutout as St. Lawrence University opened its ECAC Hockey season with a 3-0 win over 19th-ranked Cornell at Appleton Arena in Canton Friday night.
The Saints, now 1-4-3 overall and 1-0-0 in the ECAC, handed the Big Red their third straight loss to start the season, dominating the third period with a 14-6 advantage of shots on goal.
"That is a big win for us in many ways," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "It was a solid effort across the board and it will be a big help from a confidence standpoint to finally have a victory under our belts."
Flanagan took a pass from freshman defenseman Justin Baker in the short slot to the left of Cornell goalie Mike Garman and snapped a shot over Garman's shoulder and into the far corner of the net to score the game's first goal with the Saints holding a two-man advantage at 6:47 of the third.
The Saints called a time out just prior to the start of the five-on-three so they could keep the line of the Sean and Kyle Flanagan and Greg Carey on the ice for the two man advantage. "With that much room out there on a five-on-three, that was definitely the group we wanted on the ice," Marsh said.
Baker then scored his first collegiate goal from Sean Flanagan and Carey with a hard shot from the short slot with 5:29 to play and the Saints iced it when freshman Jeremy Wick scored his first collegiate goal, deflecting a shot from the point by defenseman Jordan Dewey into the empty net with 1:28 to go in regulation.
Weninger made 13 of his 29 saves in the first period as he recorded his first collegiate shutout and first collegiate win, while Garman finished with 30 saves for the Big Red which fell to 0-4-2 in its last six visits to Appleton Arena
"Matt has played well for us and has given us a chance to win every time out, but we haven't given him a lot of goal support. He didn't need a lot tonight, and I thought we did a pretty good job in front of him and in clearing rebounds," Marsh said of his goaltender.
