The Saints are coming off of their second consecutive victory in the ECAC tournament, but have lost eight lettermen, including their top three forwards and both their starting and backup goaltender.
St. Lawrence is hoping that many players will be able to improve their play enough to fill the huge gaps in the team.
"We don’t expect any one guy to jump up and make up for the kind of scoring loss you take when Erik Anderson, Mike Gellard, and Alan Fyfe graduated, but if four or five players show an increase in goal production, we can be effective as we were last season," said Head Coach Joe Marsh.
Anderson was the 2000-01 ECAC Player of the Year, Gellard led all ECAC players in scoring with 57 points, and Fyfe contributed 16 goals and 23 assists. The Saints are also down starting defender Matt Desrosiers.
Senior Russ Barlett is the Saints’ top returning scorer; he picked up 43 points last year after transferring from Boston University. The team will also get an offensive boost from forwards Robin Carruthers and Blair Clarance.
On defense, senior Ray DiLauro leads a group of talented sophomores, including one of last year’s top freshman defenders in Ryan Glenn.
In the crease is where St. Lawrence may have problems. Junior Tim Hall, last year’s third-string keeper, will compete with several freshmen for this season’s starting job.
The Saints have enough talent remaining on the team for them to finish well, but the dramatic losses and the uncertainty in goal mean that they are highly unlikely to take a third consecutive conference title—a feat that has not been accomplished since Boston University did it in the 1970s.
