Icecats 2, Saint Lawrence 0

Buoyed by Pembroke's Brian Foster, who notched his second shutout in as many starts, the University of New Hampshire beat St. Lawrence University, 2-0, before a Whittemore Center sellout of 6,501. Entering the third in a scoreless game, UNH got goals from Bobby Butler and Josh Ciocco to take the win.

UNH (13-2-1)   0-0-2 -- 2
STL (8-7-0)       0-0-0 -- 0

GOALIE SAVES
Brian Foster (UNH)   3-18-8 -- 29
Alex Petizian (STL)  17-6-7 -- 30

After playing two scoreless periods, UNH finally got on the board with 15:08 to go in the game, when Brad Flaishans fired from the point and the rebound rolled to Bobby Butler near the top of the crease. Dragging the puck toward the right post, the freshman stuffed it into the short side.

That came with the teams skating four a side, and seven seconds after UNH got its skater back, Thomas Fortney found Josh Ciocco with a feed that went from his own goal line to the opposite blue line, and Ciocco did the rest by finishing the breakaway. The two goals were separated by just 42 seconds.

"I don't think they saw me back there," Ciocco said afterward.

• The Wildcats outshot the Saints 17-3 in the opening period, keeping Foster's workload light by blocking five of St. Lawrence's 12 attempts at the net.
• The numbers didn't necessarily reflect the way the Wildcats played early, though. All those shots were not the most quality chances, and the 'Cats didn't look exceptionally crisp. That said, good teams suceed without their best stuff. "I think we had good habits, but we weren't as into it as we should've been," Ciocco said. "We started off kind of going through the motions, but at this point it's nice to have good habits because when we're going through the motions we're still playing pretty decent."
• When the Wildcats went the first two frames without a goal, it marked the first time this season they had gone consecutive periods without scoring.
• Ciocco's goal actually came on a rebound of his own shot, which came after he attempted a difficult drag move on his initial bid. "I tried a stupid move," Ciocco said with a chuckle. "If I didn't score, I don't think coach would've been too thrilled with me."
• UNH committed four penalties in each of the second and third periods, but gave up only six shots on six Saint Lawrence power plays, and used the momentum of one kill to spark the Cats two-goal outburst.
• Freshman defenseman Nick Krates gets his first game action, playing alongside Joe Charlebois in place of Kevin Kapstad. With Foster's insertion as well, it marked the first time this season Dick Umile has used two players in his lineup who hadn't played the previous game.
• Brett Hemingway picked up a high-sticking call in the third period, then compounded the penalty with a 10-minute misconduct for arguing. It was the third major penalty this season for Hemingway, who assumed the team lead in penalty minutes (41) with his 10th and 11th infractions. Entering this year, the senior had committed 22 penalties (all minors) for 44 minutes in the sin bin over three seasons.
• Defensemen Brad Flaishans and Craig Switzer were on the ice for both UNH scores.
• Both UNH goals last night came from its third line, demonstrating a balance that basically didn't exist last season. A year ago, the Wildcats were 3-7-2 when leading scorer Jacob Micflikier failed to register a point, and scored just seven goals in six games -- including three 1-0 losses -- when Micflikier's line failed to produce any offense.
• Foster said there wasn't one save that stood out to him, but rather it was the 20-minute stretch in which he made 18 saves that had him most proud afterward. "The whole second period," he said, "that's what stood out to me."