SAC Saints’ power play saves the day versus Culver Academies in Indiana

St. Andrew's College scored four goals on the power play and took 4 of 6 points on their road trip to Indiana this weekend.

The Saints defeated Culver Academies 4-1 on Saturday and tied Culver 4-4 in OT on Sunday to improve their Prep Hockey Conference record to 7-4-1.

After capturing a bronze medal in the prestigious 39^th Annual MacPherson Tournament the previous weekend, Head Coach David Manning critiqued his team's results in the Hoosier State.

“We always have a little bit of a lull coming off the MacPherson. So, knowing that, I was happy with getting 4 of 6 points in two important league games. I'd say we were probably a little disappointed not to come away with 6 points, but we didn't play 6 complete periods.”

Despite the disappointment of not securing a sweep in Indiana, Coach Manning felt there were three keys to victory in Saturday's 4-1 win over Culver: “Our Power Play has been a real difference since the New Year and this game was no different. As well, Liam Furey made every first save and we did a great job of limiting second chances. Because of our positioning defensively, we had great puck support exiting our zone.”

During Saturday's victory, the Saints jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Captain Jonathan Castagna scored three minutes into the game on assists from Anselmo Rego and Jack Good. SAC's Nic Ferrente made it 2-0 with helpers from Braydon Bruce and Lucas Veilleux.  Culver Academies reduced their deficit to one when Ansen King scored an unassisted goal at 9:02 of the opening period.

After a scoreless middle frame, Jack Pridham restored SAC's two-goal lead with a man-advantage marker only 33 seconds into the third period.  Rego and Veilleux earned their second assists of the game, respectively, on Pridham's PPG. Veilleux, assisted by Dean Latourneau, closed the scoring with 4:02 left in the game to seal the road win for the Saints.

In Sunday's 4-4 tie versus Culver, Coach Manning blamed a “slow start from us against a motivated Culver team.” He added that “We had a great 2^nd period, but fell victim to some penalty trouble and a really hot goalie. The 3^rd period was our best and we scored early to get it to 4-3 and pushed for the tying goal.  Unfortunately, we didn't get it until there were three seconds left! Overtime had two tired teams trying not to lose and nothing was solved. Liam Furey made a breakaway save in OT with 15 seconds left to seal the tie!”

Rego's short-handed goal at 14.08 of the first period foreshadowed the vital importance of the Saints' specialty teams in Game Two versus Culver. The Saints' power play saved the day as Lucas Veilleux scored with three seconds left on the clock to tie the game 4-4 and send it into OT.  Previous power play goals by Jack Pridham at 18:49 of the third and Tyler Chiovitti at 9:09 of the first were keys to keeping pace with Culver which held a 3-2 lead after the first period and expanded it to 4-2 at 6:42 of the second period to cue the Saints' spirited comeback in the final frame.

Coach Manning applauded the efforts of five of his players as difference makers in Indiana.

“I thought goaltender Liam Furey was really solid in both games. On defense, Oscar Wu had great performances and gave us a little bit of everything on the weekend.  Up front, it was really a group effort, but recent Princeton University commit Anselmo Rego and Colgate University commit Lucas Veilleux found a way to keep our offense moving. I thought Jack Pridham stepped up in the 3^rd of Game Two with his best period of the weekend.”

Upcoming Games:

The Saints return home to play a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday versus St. Mary's in a battle of Number One teams at La Brier Family Arena.

SAC's veteran Head Coach delineated some keys to weekend success.

“We have the #1 Team in the US and #1 in Canada squaring off so it will be a great weekend of hockey. We split with them in December and they are similar to us; they have lots of offense and great special teams. Our focus will be on getting our defence organized quickly in the NZ and making sure we make them earn their chances.”

By Jim Stewart