Saint Lawrence 2 - Dartmouth 0

By Dave Sherzer

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - Dartmouth knew it had to shut down St. Lawrence's dangerous top line in the teams' ECAC semifinal Friday night at 1980 Olympic Rink.

Mission accomplished. The only problem was that other Saints players picked up the slack.

Right winger Robin Carruthers' two goals and Jeremy Symington's perfect play in net boosted top-seeded St. Lawrence to a 2-0 win over the fourth-seeded Big Green before 4,990 fans, lifting the Saints to a date with Cornell in the championship game Saturday night.

Carruthers' game-winner came early in the second period, as the junior scored from the point on a power play to break the scoreless tie.

With the win, St. Lawrence (19-12-4) has a chance to defend its 2000 league title.

"This was a typical playoff game," Marsh said. "Dartmouth gave us all we could handle down in our zone. We just kept working hard. We've been in a lot of games like this, so we just kept emphasizing to the guys to use their experience. We've got some experience, but it doesn't do any good if you don't use it."

A day after an emotional, 3-2 overtime win over Vermont in the preliminary game, the Big Green showed lot of energy against the Saints, pouring 42 shots on Symington.

The goaltender was perfect, however, as Dartmouth went 0-for-3 on the power play and is now 0-for-9 in that department in Lake Placid.

With the loss, the Big Green (16-13-4) will face second-seeded Harvard in the consolation game Saturday at 4 p.m.

"I'm really proud of our team," said head coach Bob Gaudet. "I thought our guys played great tonight. We generated offense and I thought we were dominating on defense. It came down to a couple of breaks. That's what the game came down to."

Dartmouth's loss ends the team's chances at a trip to the NCAA Tournament, but the Big Green at least has put on a nice show so far in Lake Placid, downing Vermont before giving the Saints a run for their money.

The team isn't satisfied, however. The Big Green wanted to win the ECAC title.

"I think we've got a quality hockey team. I think we're as good a team as there is in our league," Gaudet said. "We ran into a good team that received an outstanding performance by their goaltender.

"It's been a long time. It's been a drought for Dartmouth that we wanted to put an end to. We won three playoff games. We're not pleased with tonight's result, but this team will be back. We have a good group of guys coming back."

The teams skated to a scoreless but competitive opening 20 minutes, as Dartmouth took 11 shots to St. Lawrence's 10. Both goalies played well, each neutralizing a handful of chances from the slot.

The Saints were outshot, 13-6, in the middle frame, but claimed most of the quality scoring chances, as all of their shots were from either the circles or the slot. They hit two posts in the period.

St. Lawrence opened the scoring at 1:28 of the period, converting on a power play when Carruthers snapped off a shot from the point that made its way through traffic and past goaltender Nick Boucher (22 saves). Carruthers' goal, his fifth of the year, was assisted by Josh LeRoy and Jim Lorentz.

The Saints stretched their lead to two goals seven minutes into the third stanza, as Carruthers had a breakaway seconds after a Big Green power play and punched his sixth of the season past Boucher.

That ended the scoring, as the Saints whittled down the clock the rest of the way.

"We felt like we peppered their goalie," Dartmouth junior Chris Baldwin said. "I think the shots ended up around 2-to-1 in our favor. It's a credit to Symington. He played an outstanding game tonight, especially in the third period. I felt like we had a bunch of great opportunities, but when he left the rebound, their guys cleaned it up."

Big Green Notes: The Big Green lineup was back to normal. Jamie Herrington, who sat out Thursday's 3-2 overtime win against Vermont with a back injury, re-entered the lineup in his usual centering position between Jason Costa and Michael Byrne. Brian Van Abel, who hurt his shoulder in the Vermont game, fought through the injury to play on the blueline.