ALBANY, NY -- Junior
Adam Presizniuk scored the game-winning goal at 9:26 of the third period, giving the 15th-ranked Union College men's ice hockey team a 3-1 victory against St. Lawrence on Friday night during the semifinal round of the ECAC Hockey Championship at Albany's Time Union Center. The Dutchmen will compete for the league title on Saturday, Mar. 20 against seventh-ranked Cornell at 7 p.m.
The winner came after the two teams entered the second intermission tied at 1-1. Presizniuk tipped in his 13th goal of the season on a shot by senior
Jason Walters. Sophomore Stephane Boileau picked up the second assist, which was also his second point of the game. For Walters, the assist was his 115th point of his career, setting a Union Division I record.
Senior forward
Mario Valery-Trabucco put the finishing touches on the game with his 114th career point, an empty net goal with five seconds remaining.
The Dutchmen were playing in their first ever ECAC Hockey semifinal series, marking the first time in the conference's relationship with the Times Union Center that a Capital District team made it to Albany. Union will be the visiting team against Cornell, which posted a 3-0 win over Brown in the early game.
Freshman netminder
Keith Kinkaid set a Union freshman record with his 12th win of the season. He turned away 29 shots, including 13 in the third period alone. He improves to 12-7-3.
For the 12th time this season, the Dutchmen got on the board first when sophomore
Luke Cain rocketed a wrister top shelf on St. Lawrence netminder Kain Tisi at 10:25. The play started when junior
John Simpson found Boileau at the left face-off dot. Quick hands by Boileau helped find Cain cutting to the net for his seventh goal of the season.
An uneventful second half of the first period and all but 25 seconds in the second period followed. The Saints applied pressure late and senior Derek Keller knotted things at 1-1 with 25 ticks remaining in the second. The goal was similar to Cain's as Keller fired a wrist shot into the upper left corner.
The penalty kill for both teams stood strong and the Dutchmen killed off all three of its infractions, including two in the final period.
Union defense posted its third straight game only allowing a single goal. However, the Saints did hold the advantage in shots, 30-19.
Saturday's game against Cornell pits the second-seeded team against the third-seeded team. The goaltending matchup of Kinkaid and Big Red's Ben Scrivens includes two finalists for the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year award -- Scrivens took home the honor.
Cornell and Union rank one-two in the league for scoring defense, posting 1.97 and 2.59 goals-against average. As for the offenses, Union ranks second with 3.54 goals per game, while Cornell is fourth with a 3.19 showing.
