Gicewicz Out for Season for SLU

St. Lawrence senior captain Carson Gicewicz announced recently on his social media account that he's out for the remainder of the 2019-20 NCAA campaign, thanks to a torn ACL in his knee. He went scoreless in two season-opening games at Mercyhurst before his condition was diagnosed.

And not even a month after I penned the cover story on him for the October issue of New York Hockey Journal. Now I know how John Madden must feel ...

Saints Starting Over, Morris Let Go

St. Lawrence University is starting over again with its men's hockey program. According to multiple published sources, the Saints will not retain head coach Mark Morris, nor assistant coaches Mike Hurlbut and Matt Deschamps.

Morris, shown above at right, who previously coached at Clarkson University and in the professional minor leagues, took the job at SLU in 2016. In three seasons at the helm in Canton, N.Y., he guided the Saints to an overall record of 31-69-11, including a 17-13-7 mark in his first season in 2016-17 when they placed fourth overall in the ECAC Hockey League with a 12-6-4 conference finish.

His career NCAA record now stands at 337-225-53, including a 6-29-2 overall mark with SLU this past season when the Saints finished 12th and last in ECAC Hockey by going 3-17-2.

Hayton Transferring to Wisconsin

 

Kyle Hayton's career at St. Lawrence is over. His tenure at Wisconsin is just beginning.

Hayton, who backstopped the Saints the past three years as their No. 1 goaltender, has graduated from SLU with a bachelor's degree, and has been cleared to transfer to Wisconsin where he will now backstop the Badgers while also working on his MBA. St. Lawrence does not offer an MBA program among its graduate academic offerings.

A Denver native, Hayton fashioned a 54-37-13 record over 104 career games at SLU, to go with 13 shutouts, according to USCHO.com. He also complied career a 2.09 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage.

A product of Sioux City (USHL) and Shattuck St. Mary's prior to enrolling at SLU, Hayton earned Second Team All-America accolades as a junior under new SLU head coach Mark Morris, after going 16-12-7 in 35 outings (2.28, .929, 5 SO). He backstopped the Saints to a fourth-place regular-season finish in the ECAC, and played his final game for SLU in a 3-2 loss against Quinnipiac on March 12 in the deciding contest of a best-of-three ECAC Tournament quarterfinal series.

As a freshman in 2014-15, Hayton won 20 games and posted five shutouts, and was named ECAC Rookie of the Year, Second Team All ECAC, and ECAC All-Rookie Team. He also guided the Saints to the ECAC Tournament semifinals in Lake Placid his first two seasons, where they fell by a goal each time.

Hayton, who has not been drafted by an NHL club, is expected to be in net for the Badgers on Oct. 27-28 when the Saints visit Wisconsin for two non-conference contests. The Badgers went 20-15-1 overall last season in their first campaign under head coach Tony Granato. Wisconsin finished second in the Big Ten Conference, qualified for the Big Ten championship game in Detroit, and came within a double-overtime goal of making the NCAA Tournament.

Princeton Tops St. Lawrence, 3-1

Princeton spotted St. Lawrence a goal on Friday night at Hobey Baker Rink, then scored three straight times to knock off yet another ranked opponent this season.

The host Tigers (10-11-3 overall, 5-9-3 ECAC) increased their unbeaten streak to five games with a 3-1 victory over No. 18 St. Lawrence (15-9-6, 11-4-3), which has now lost two consecutive contests. Princeton remains one point behind Dartmouth in the ECAC standings for the fourth and final home first-round playoff spot in the ECAC Tournament, as the Big Green held on to beat Rensselaer, 2-1.

Jacob Pritchard gave SLU a 1-0 lead just over five minutes into the game, before Alex Riche tied it for the Tigers under 11 minutes later. Josh Teves scored the game-winning goal on a power-play rush with just under three minutes remaining in the second stanza, and Max Becker drove to the net to stuff the puck home for an insurance goal 5:31 into the final frame.

Kyle Hayton finished with 33 saves for the Saints, while Colton Phinney made 30 stops for the Tigers. Princeton is now 7-5-0 against ranked opponents this winter, with two wins apiece over Bemidji State and Quinnipiac, plus single victories over Minnesota State, Penn State and now SLU.

The Saints will skate at Quinnipiac on Saturday night, while Princeton will entertain Clarkson.

ADDENDUM: Princeton rebounded from a  two-goal, third-period deficit to win, 3-2, in overtime against Clarkson on a goal by Derek Topatigh, the first of his college career.

Pair of Saints Lead NCAA in Scoring

A senior and a junior are leading the nation in NCAA Division I men’s hockey scoring – and they’re not from Boston College, Michigan, or North Dakota.

Senior forward Kyle Flanagan and junior Greg Carey of St. Lawrence are 1-2 in the national scoring race, with Canton, N.Y. native Flanagan having tallied six goals and nine assists for 15 points in six games, and Burlington, Ont. resident Carey having posted 6-7—13 points. The duo has also led the Saints to a No. 13 national ranking (USCHO.com) and a 5-1-0 overall mark so far in 2012-13, including a split at Western Michigan and a two-step sweep at Maine.

For his career, team captain and hometown skater Flanagan has 37-78—115 points to date in 105 career contests, including 20 power-play goals and seven game-winning goals. Carey has already put up 44-46—90 points in 82 outings, including 19 PPG and seven game-winners.

SLU, which just took two games from Alabama-Huntsville at home, begins Eastern College Athletic Conference play this weekend at Brown and Yale. The Saints, who finished 14-19-3 (10-11-1 ECAC) overall a year ago and are seeking their first winning campaign since 2009-10, are also looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007.