Published: April 29, 2007
FAIRFIELD, Conn.
Holding Fairfield scoreless in the third period, the St. John’s
Red Storm was unable to come back from a first-half nine-goal
deficit as the Stags defeated the Red Storm in a 13-6 league
victory, April 29 on Lessing Field.
With the loss, the Red Storm closes the season with a 5-8
overall record and a 2-5 ECAC record. The Stags advance to 6-6
overall and 2-5 in the ECAC as both teams’ season comes to a
close.
The Stags jumped off to a nine goal lead after 17 stag shots on
goal. The Fairfield defense held the scoreless Red Storm to just
seven shots on goal in the first half.
Junior attackman Tom Michaelsen
opened the second half for the Red Storm with back-to-back goals
past Stag goaltender Michael Kruger who is third on Fairfield’s
all-time goalie list for saves with 519 career blanks prior to
today’s game.
With less than two minutes left in the third quarter, junior
attackman Graeme Gillespie spun toward
Kruger’s net with a left-handed zinger past the Stag goaltender to
cut the Fairfield lead to six.
As seconds ticked off the clock in the third period junior Rob Gannon controlled the ball into the
offensive zone taking advantage of a Stag penalty. Gannon passed
the ball off to Michaelsen who took the ball down to the goal,
fighting off two Stag defenders. With 34 seconds on the clock,
Michaelsen scored his fifth hat trick of the season as he sent the
ball past Kruger cutting deficit to five.
Heading into the fourth period, the Red Storm continued to chip
away at Fairfield’s first half lead, as Gannon muscled the ball
into the net for his second goal of the season, as the Red Storm
shortens the gap to a manageable four goals.
Goaltender Dave Saccente got marked
with a penalty after the Stags scored two goals to put Fairfield up
10-5 with 6:02 left in the game.
Two-men down, the Red Storm defense could not hold the Stags as
Greg Downing, Chris Manley and Gary Raniolo scored past back-up
freshman goaltender Gavin Buckley.
With Fairfield up 13-5, Gillespie scored his eighth goal
of the season with 2:36 left to play.
Unable to score in the last two minutes, the Stags sealed the
deal with a 13-6 win.
After just getting 17 shots off in the first half, the Red Storm
increased its offensive efforts in the second half, taking 30 shots
to the Stags’ 12. Four of Fairfield’s goals were scored during a
Red Storm man-down situation.
Tom Michaelsen closes out the season as the Red Storm’s leading
scorer in all three categories with 37 points, 22 goals and 15
assists, pulling ahead of his twin brother Trevor Michaelsen in the
final game of the season as the goal leader.
Trevor Michaelsen, Justin O’Donnell
and Tom Manes finished second and tied
for third in points for the season. Michaelsen finished with 23
points (20G, 3A) in his first season with the Red Storm, while
O’Donnell and Manes finish with 22 points. O’Donnell has 18 goals,
4 assists; while Manes had eight goals and 14 assists.
Saccente ends the season with a 2-4 record in the net.
Going 8-for-17 against Fairfield, junior Jack Rosson finished just under .500 with a
98-198 season record at the X as the Red Storm’s leading face-off
man. Sophomore Dom DeNapoli, who went
2-for-4 against the Stags, finished the season with a .438 face-off
win percentage going 21-for-48.
Although the Red Storm closes 2007 with a difficult loss, the
program saw a huge turn around as the team earned two victories in
the ECAC, its first victories of the team’s short history.
Since the program’s reinstatement in 2005, the Red Storm has
increased its win-total from two, to four, to five, earning the
most wins in a season since 1995 this year with its 5-8 record.
At home, the Red Storm broke the attendance record twice,
hosting over 700 fans on both occasions. In 2006, the most fans to
attend a game at DaSilva Memorial was 447.
For the most up-to-date information and statistics on St. John’s
athletics please visit www.RedStormSports.com or
call our hotline at 1-888-GO-STORM.
-- RED STORM --