Niagara and RIT • Oct. 9-10, 2015 2015-16 Schedule Radio: WFLK 95.3 • Greg Lapinski and Wally Johnson Oct. 3 CARLETON (ex) W, 5-3 Zeebs du Jour Oct. 9 NIAGARA 7:00 Oct. 10 R.I.T. 7:00 Niagara Referees: Pete Feola, Tory Carissimo Lines: Jason Shattie, Peter Olson RIT Referees: Peter Feola, Will Harrop; Lines: Jason Shattie, Peter Olson Oct. 16 at New Hampshire 7:00 Oct. 17 at Merrimack 7:30 THE NCAA OPENERS: The Saints will begin the 2015-16 season with a pair of games Oct. 23 MIAMI (OH) 7:00 against Atlantic Hockey opponents Niagara and RIT at Appleton Arena. The Saints Oct. 24 MIAMI (OH) 7:00 played the same two teams on the road a year ago, losing to RIT 5-2 on open- Oct. 29 at Penn State 7:00 ing night, but coming back with a 10-2 win over a shorthanded Niagara team on Oct. 30 at Penn State 7:00 Saturday. This is the second home series to open the season in Greg Carvel’s three Nov. 6 UNION* 7:00 seasons as head coach and the Saints swept the previous home season openers, Nov. 7 RENSSELAER* 7:00 beating Maine 3-1 and 5-2 to start the 2013-14 season. Coach Carvel is 4-2-0 on Nov. 13 CLARKSON* 7:00 opening weekend in his first three seasons. Nov. 20 at Princeton* 7:00 THE EXHIBITION GAME: The Saints pulled away from Carleton University for a 5-3 Nov. 21 at Quinnipiac 7:00 win over the Ravens in the annual exhibition against a Canadian school. The Saints Dec. 4 at Cornell* 7:00 improved to 6-1-1 in exhibitions to start the season since 2008. Woody Hudson Dec. 5 at Colgate* 7:00 scored two goals, Jacob Pritchard had a goal and an assist, and Mike Marnell and Dec. 11 at Vermont 7:05 Nolan Gluchowski added the others. Michael Laidley and Brian Ward had two assists Dec. 12 VERMONT 7:00 each in the game. Kyle Hayton went the first two periods in goal and Arthur Brey Jan. 8 NORTHEASTERN 7:00 played the third. The Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Marnell, who later Jan. 9 NORTHEASTERN 7:00 left the game with an injury, and Hudson, but Carleton, which had beaten the AHL Jan. 12 at Clarkson* 7:00 Binghamton Senators earlier in the week, battled back with two goals on odd-man rushes to tie it at 2-2. Pritchard put the Saints back in front with a backhander down Jan. 15 at Harvard* 7:00 low, Hudson scored his second of the night and Gluchowski scored on a bomb from Jan. 16 at Dartmouth 7:00 the point for a 5-2 Saint lead. The Ravens added a late goal against Brey to make it Jan. 22 BROWN* 7:00 a 5-3 final. Statistics from the game do not count in the season record, nor does the Jan. 23 YALE* 7:00 victory count in the team record. Jan. 29 COLGATE* (TV ASN) 8:00 Jan. 30 CORNELL* 7:00 THE SAINT STAFF: Greg Carvel is in his fourth season as Saint head coach after Feb. 5 at Rensselaer* 7:00 posting one of the best records for a first-year coach in program history in his rookie Feb. 6 at Union* 7:00 season and earning the Tim Taylor Award as ECAC Coach of the Year last season. The Feb. 12 QUINNIPIAC* 7:00 Saints 18-16-4 mark in 2012-13 is the best for a first-year Saint coach since George Menard went 18-5-0 in his first season, 1955-56. Carvel had his first 20-win season Feb. 13 PRINCETON* 7:00 and trip to the ECAC semifinals last year, going 20-14-3. Carvel was named the sec- Feb. 19 at Yale* 7:00 ond Charles W. Appleton II Head Men’s Hockey Coach in the spring of 2012. A 1993 Feb. 20 at Brown* 7:00 graduate of St. Lawrence and a former Saint hockey captain, he joined the staff as Feb. 26 DARTMOUTH* 7:00 an assistant coach in the fall of 2011. He is the 13th head coach in program history. Feb. 27 HARVARD* 7:00 Carvel came to the Saints after a 15-year professional hockey coaching career that Mar. 4-6 ECAC 1st Round# 7:00 included assisting coach duties with the Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks of the Mar. 11-13 ECAC Quarterfinals# 7:00 National Hockey League, helping both teams reach the Stanley Cup finals. He began Mar. 18-19 ECAC Semis and Finals TBA his professional career as director of hockey operations for the Lowell Lock Mon- sters of the American Hockey League and joined Anaheim as scouting coordinator in Mar. 25-27 NCAA Regionals TBA 1999. He added video coaching duties to his title in Anaheim in 2002 and was pro- Apr. 7 NCAA Semifinals TBA moted to assistant coach in 2003. He joined the Senators in 2004. The winner of the Apr. 9 NCAA Championship TBA ECAC’s Best Defensive Forward Award as a senior at St. Lawrence, Carvel graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and mathematics. He was an Academic *-ECAC Games All America and a three-time winner of the Brian McFarlane Award for academic #-Best of 3 series and athletic accomplishments. He is joined behind the Saint bench by Associate Head Coach Mike Hurlbut ‘89, a former All America defenseman who was part of two ECAC Championship teams at SLU and had a 14-year professional playing career and assistant coach Jared DeMichiel, who is in his first season with the Saints after assisting at Nazareth last season. DeMichiel was an outstanding goaltender for RIT, leading that team to the Frozen Four as a senior. The Tale of The Tape Statistics from 2014-15 season St. Lawrence Niagara RIT Record 20-14-3 7-28-4 20-15-5 Offense 3.05 2.18 3.02 Defense 2.03 4.03 2.40 Power Play 16.4 11.4 14.1 Penalty Kill 87.6 79.1 87.9 Special Teams Net +8 -20 +5 Pen. Min. Gm. 13.6 13.7 12.8 SAINT SUPPORT STAFF: Aisha Visram, a 2007 graduate of the University of Guelph, is in her third season as athletic trainer for the Saint men’s hockey team. Mike Elberty, a 1979 St. Lawrence graduate, is the Stradling Men’s Ice Hockey Strength and Conditioning coach and Ryan Durocher is the video coach for the 2015-16 Saints. Wally Johnson is the sports information contact and is in his 41st year of working with the Saint program. He also works with the Saint radio broadcasts during games. Dr. Mark Randall, a 1982 graduate of St. Lawrence and a former Saint player is the team’s consulting clinical sport psychologist and Scott Dexter is volunteer assistant coach. THE BREAKDOWN: The 2015-16 Saint roster includes seven seniors, seven juniors, eight sophomores and five freshmen. The Saints lost two of their top four scorers, among four graduates and a backup goaltender did not return. Of the 20 re- turnees, four played in all 37 games last year, and four in 36. THE SAINT CAPTAINS: Senior Brian Ward, an assistant captain last season, takes over as the Saint captain for the 2015-16 season and is the Saints’ leading returning scorer. Ward had nine goals and 17 assists in 37 games for the Saints last sea- son, his second on the squad after transfering from Dartmouth College. He has not missed a game in his two seasons in a Saint uniform and has 17 goals and 26 assists for 43 points in 75 games heading into the current season. Senior Tommy Thompson, who has played in 104 games with 17 goals and 19 assists is one of three assistant captains. Second-team All ECAC defenseman Eric Sweetman, a junior who led all Saint defenders in scoring with five goals and 15 assists and junior wing Alexander Dahl, who had five goals and two assists in 29 games for the Saints last season are the other two assistant captaints. THE SERIES: The Saints are 5-3-1 in nine previous meetings with Niagara with just two of the games played at Appleton. The Saints are 1-1 on home ice with the last twin coming in 2009-10, a 4-3 Saint win. SLU is 9-5-0 overall against RIT and 6-1-0 at Appleton. Of the 14 total meetings, 11 have been since RIT became a Division I program in 2005-06 and the Saints hold a 6-5-0 series lead since that time. The Saints last beat RIT in Canton 4-3 in 2012-13 as the Saints split two games, both with 4-3 scores. SLU is 12-7-2 against current Atlantic Hockey teams since the formation of that league in 2003-04. NHL CONNECTIONS: Brandon Bollig (Calgary Flames) and Mike McKenna (Arizona Coyotes) were the only Saints playing in the NHL last season with a number of players playing in the AHL, ECHL or other professional leagues. Rich Peverley recently retired as a player in Dallas after being sidelined by an irregular heartbeat. McKenna spent most of his season in Portland last year while Bollig played in 62 games for Calgary after two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks. A host of former play- ers hold significant positions in the NHL.