Dutchmen rally for 3-2 win over Saints

Box Score

by Ryan Fay

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Union head coach Rick Bennett was battling a head cold on Friday, but his Dutchmen had the best medicine possible.

Trailing 2-0 after two periods, Union scored a trio of power-play goals in the third and skated away with a 3-2 win over 19th-ranked St. Lawrence at Messa Rink.

Union's Mike Vecchione battles for the puck in front of
 the St. Lawrence crease Friday at Messa Rink.
photo: St. Lawrence Athletics

“We’ve been saying all week that these games down the stretch are going to be one-goal games,” said Union's Daniel Ciampini. “They’re going to be won or lost on special teams. I think the guys did a good job of staying disciplined, for the most part. We did a good job of capitalizing on our opportunities.”

Union (7-13-1 ECAC Hockey, 15-16-2 overall) snapped a five-game losing streak overall, as well as a four-game losing streak on home ice.

Despite not feeling well, Bennett manned the bench, but assistant coach Joe Dumais handled the postgame press conference.

“The guys have been showing up every day with a great attitude [and] working hard," said Dumais. "They know, eventually, it’s going to come. They had that attitude this whole game.”

St. Lawrence (14-6-1, 18-12-3) grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals from Brian Ward and Matt Purmal 21 seconds apart in the opening period. The Saints maintained that lead going into the third, but the team became unglued by several penalties.

Alex Dahl was the first offender after getting a five minute major and a game misconduct for checking Union's Tyler Hynes into the boards at 2:03 of the third.

Max Novak's slashing penalty at 4:14 negated the man advantage. But St. Lawrence gave it right back at 5:38 when Mike Marnell was whistled for hooking, creating a 4-on-3 opportunity for Union.

Ciampini capitalized 17 seconds into it after he fired a shot from the slot that eluded Saints goalie Kyle Hayton, who was getting screened by Spencer Foo.

“That’s something we talked about for the past couple of days, was making sure we were getting good screens and getting guys to the net, something we weren't doing before,” Ciampini said. “I couldn't even see the goalie. He did a really good job. I decided to shoot around him."

St. Lawrence took another penalty at 6:44 when Patrick Doherty was called for slashing. Mike Vecchione tied the game at 2-2 43 seconds later when his shot from the right circle found its way through a crowd of players in front of the Saints net.

"We were just trying to get screens up front and get pucks through," he said. "We finally got a lucky bounce and it went in."

The Saints' march to the penalty box continued at 11:47 when Tommy Thompson went off for interference. Novak provided the game-winner on the ensuing power play when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Ciampini.

"We were moving the puck around pretty good on the power play," Novak said. "When the puck came up to Champ, he found me back door and I just tried to put it on net and luckily it went in."

Ciampini said the win was an important one.

"It's big," he said. "We were pretty up-tempo and upbeat this week. The energy was really good, and this is kind of the next step for us. We have a little bit of confidence now. We showed what we can do against the best in the conference."

End notes
Matt Wilkins missed the game with a lower-body injury; Dumais said he's day-to-day.... Sebastien Gingras returned after missing four games with an upper-body injury.... St. Lawrence fired 15 shots on goal in the opening period, but just 10 the rest of the way.


Union's third period rally



St. Lawrence's Nolan Gluchowski shatters a pane of glass



Postgame Audio

Ciampini, Novak and Vecchione

Download Music - Listen Audio Files - Ciampini, Novak, Vecchione p...

Union assistant coach Joe Dumais

Download Music - Upload Audio Files - Joe Dumais postgame - 2/27/15

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