VERMEULEN, DEREK KELLER TO CAPTAIN
2009-10 SAINTS
Rising seniors Travis Vermuelen and Derek Keller will be the captains of the 2009-10 St. Lawrence University men’s hockey team and three other players will wear the “A” of assistant captains.
Joining Vermeulen and Keller will be rising seniors Mike McKenzie and Alex Curran and junior Aaron Bogosian as assistants.
Vermeulen, a center from Centerville, MN, is coming off his most prolific season offensively after scoring seven goals and assisting on 13 in 39 games as a junior. An outstanding penalty killer, he has four career shorthanded goals and will enter his senior season with 18 goals and 25 assists in 106 career games. He took only three penalties in 39 games in the 2008-09 season.
Derek Keller, a defenseman from Wilkie, SASK, is one of two returning regulars on the blue line for the Saints and is also coming off an outstanding season as a junior. Keller scored his first career goal and finished the season with three goals and five assists for eight points in 33 games. He had a plus-eight plus/minus rating. He has played in 93 career games and has three goals and 16 assists.
McKenzie was the leading scorer for the Saints as a junior with 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points in 39 games. He was also plus-eight in the plus/minus ratings and should join the 100 point club as a senior as he enters his final collegiate season with 35 goals and 44 assists for 79 points in 104 career games.
Curran, another outstanding penalty killer, also had his best point production as a junior, scoring four goals and adding 14 assists for 18 points in 39 games. He has played 113 career games and has 11 goals and 30 assists for 41 points.
Bogosian has been a standout two-way forward in each of his first two seasons and saw some emergency duty at defense as a rookie. He had three goals and 13 assists and was plus-11 in 34 games as a sophomore and has eight goals and 20 assists in 71 career games through two seasons.
“The captains reflect the vote of their teammates,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “This is an indication of how the guys feel and all five received significant support in the voting. I think we will get very strong leadership out of them.”
SAINT SCHEDULE INCLUDES TWO TRIPS WEST
St. Lawrence University’s 2009-10 men’s ice hockey schedule will include two trips to college hockey’s “west” including an appearance in the Icebreaker Tournament hosted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha to start the official NCAA season.
The Saints will unveil the 2009-10 team in an exhibition game against the University of Toronto on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. at Appleton Arena. They then open NCAA play, joining Nebraska-Omaha, Army and UMass.-Lowell in Omaha for the Icebreaker Oct. 9-10 and play their first official home games with Niagara and RIT visiting Appleton Arena on Oct. 16-17.
The first of three meetings with arch-rival Clarkson will take place in Potsdam on Oct. 24 in a non-league game and the Saints will complete pre-ECAC play with Sacred Heart at Appleton for two games on Oct. 30-31.
SLU opens league play at Princeton and Quinnipiac Nov. 6-7, hosts Union and RPI on Nov. 13-14 and is at Harvard and Dartmouth Nov. 20-21. The Saints will play Maine in Portland in a non-league game on Nov. 29 and will play a back-to-back league series with Clarkson on Dec. 4 and 5, meeting the Knights in Canton on the fourth at 7:30 and playing at Clarkson on the fifth at 7 p.m. First semester play concludes with a game at Vermont on Dec. 12.
The Saints will return to action on New Year’s Day, playing in the Denver Cup Jan. 1-2 and will conclude the non-league portion of their schedule with two games at Niagara on Jan. 8-9.
SLU will return to ECAC play with a four-game home stand with Colgate and Cornell visiting on Jan. 15-16 and Brown and Yale in Appleton Jan. 22-23. They then hit the road for four, playing at Cornell and Colgate on Jan.29-30 and at RPI and Union on Feb. 5-6 before hosting Quinnipiac and Princeton on Feb. 12-13. The Saints will be at Yale and Brown Feb. 19-20 and conclude the regular season with Dartmouth and Harvard in Appleton on Feb. 26.-27.
MISKOVIC NAMED FIRST TEAM ALL AMERICA
April 10: St. Lawrence University senior defenseman Zach Miskovic was named a first-team All America in voting by the American Hockey Coaches Association.
Miskovic joins Colgate’s David McIntyre as the ECAC Hockey representatives on the first team of the Reebok Division I East All America team. Brad Theissen of Northeastern was selected as the first team East goalie while Hobey Baker Award winner Matt Gilroy of Boston University was the other defenseman selected. Viktor Stalberg of Vermont and Colin Wilson of BU were the other East first team forwards in addition to McIntyre.
Zane Kalemba of Princeton was second team goalie while Maury Edwards of Lowell and Kevin Shattenkirk of BU were the second team defensemen. Mark Arcobello of Yale, Jacques Lamoureaux of the US Air Force Academy and James Marcou of UMass were the second team forwards.
Miskovic, the Saints’ 2008-09 MVP becomes the 37th All America in Saint program history and the 31st individual to earn All America honors. The Saints have had six two-time All Americas.
The senior defenseman from River Forest, IL, who led all Division I defensemen in goal-scoring in 2008-09 with 16, is the second Saint defenseman to earn first-team honors in the last three seasons. Drew Bagnall was a first-team selection in 2007. He is the 18th All America for the Saints in the tenure of head coach Joe Marsh.
14 SAINTS EARN ECAC HOCKEY ALL ACADEMIC
Apr. 8: A total of 14 members of St. Lawrence University’s men’s hockey team earned All Academic honors as announced by ECAC Hockey.
Senior Matt Generous and juniors Alex Curran and Derek Keller earned all academic for the third straight year while Jared Ross, Jared Keller, Jeremiah Cunningham, Mike McKenzie and Matt Raley were named to the All Academic team for the second straight year. Freshmen were deemed eligible for the team for the first time in 2006-07.
Other members of the Saint team to earn All Academic included Peter Child, Pat Kelliher, Joe Spadaccini, Jake Klancher, Casey Parenteau and Travis Vermeulen.
MISKOVIC IS 2009 SAINT MVP
Apr. 3: Senior defenseman Zach Miskovic was named St. Lawrence University’s men’s hockey 2008-09 Most Valuable Player at the Friends of St. Lawrence Hockey annual end of the season banquet Friday night.
Miskovic, who led all Division I defensemen nationally in goals and was named a first-team ECAC All Star, was also named the Pete McGeough Award winner as the outstanding Saint defenseman for 2008-09
The Saint senior class, just one of five in program history to win 20 or more games three times in their collegiate careers, garnered the majority of the awards at Friday’s affair.
Casey Parenteau and Kevin DeVergilio were named the co-winners of the Bernie McKinnon Coaches Award while captains Jared Ross and Shawn Fensel were co-winners of the Brian “Jinx” Doyle Memorial Award. Matt Generous was the winner of the Brian McFarlane Award for outstanding athletic and academic accomplishment, Dan Coughlin was the winner of the Friends’ Seventh Player Award and Jared Ross received the Terry Slater Perseverance Award shared with and inspired by his brother Ben Ross, who succumbed to cancer in November
.
Sophomore wing Jared Keller was named the winner of the Paul C. Flanagan Most Improved Player Award while Mark Armstrong and Brandon Bollig were selected as winners of the Mike Pelletier/Rich Stewart Rookie of the Year Award.
MISKOVIC, MCBRIDE, GENEROUS SIGN PROFESSIONAL CONTRACTS
: St. Lawrence University senior hockey players Zach Miskovic, Matt Generous and Brock McBride have embarked on professional careers following the completion of four seasons as standouts for St. Lawrence University’s men’s hockey team.
McBride signed an amateur tryout contract with the Hartford Wolf Pack and began play in late March. The Wolf Pack is an affiliate of the New York Rangers. Coincidentally, McBride’s professional career will begin where his amateur career ended as the Wolf Pack will take on the Albany River Rats in the Times Union Center in McBride’s first pro game.
McBride, a third-team All ECAC Hockey selection, was the second leading scorer for the Saints this season and had 13 goals and 20 assists in 35 games for 33 points. He led the Saints in the plus/minus ratings at plus 24 and contributed seven special teams goals and three game winners. He passed the 100 career point mark during his senior season and finished his Saint career with 40 goals and 70 assists for 110 points in 140 career games.
Miskovic, a first-team ECAC Hockey all star on defense and an All America candidate, signed an entry level professional contract with the Washington Capitals for the 2009-10 season. He will play for the Hersey Bears this season on an amateur tryout agreement.
Miskovic never missed a game for the Saints in his collegiate career, setting the record for consecutive games played at 154 and led the nation in goal scoring by Division I defensemen with 16 this season. He had 16 goals and nine assists for 25 points in 38 games this season including five power play goals and four game winners and completed his career with 27 goals and 46 assists for 73 points.
Generous, a draft choice of the Buffalo Sabres, signed an entry level contract with the Sabres and will play on an ATO with Portland in the AHL. Generous, who was named to Inside College Hockey's All America team as a second team defenseman, will join former teammate Kyle Rank and former Saint Matt Macdonald on the Portland club.
MISKOVIC 1ST TEAM ALL STAR, McBRIDE, GENEROUS ALSO HONORED
March 17: St. Lawrence University senior defenseman Zach Miskovic has been named to the ECAC Hockey first team all star team in voting by the league’s coaches.
Miskovic was joined on the all star team by senior center Brock McBride, who was selected to the third team. Senior defenseman Matt Generous was named the winner of the league’s Outstanding Defensive Defenseman Award.
It is the second straight all league selection for Miskovic, who was a third-team choice last season. The Saint standout leads all defensemen nationally in Division I in goal scoring with 15 heading into the ECAC Hockey Championship round Friday and Saturday at the Times Union Center in Albany. Miskovic has never missed a game in his career for the Saints and has scored 15 goals and assisted on nine others this season for a total of 24 points. Four of his goals have been game winning goals. He was the only defenseman to earn ECAC Hockey Player of the Week honors in each of the last two years.
McBride has 13 goals and 20 assists for 33 points in 32 games for the Saints as a senior and is the team leader in the plus/minus ratings with a plus-24 rating. He missed four games in the pre-Christmas portion of the season with an injury. He has scored in 21 of 32 games thus far this season and takes a five-game scoring streak into the ECAC Championship round. He has scored six power play goals, has one shorthanded goal and three game winners this season. He passed the 100 career point mark in January and has 40 career goals and 70 assists for 110 points going into Friday’s ECAC semifinal against Yale.
Generous becomes the fifth Saint player to earn the Outstanding Defensive Defenseman Award since it was reintroduced in 1992. The Saint senior, who has missed the last three games due to a knee injury, played a major role in the Saint defense which finished the regular season with the best team goals against average since the 1955-56 season at 2.32. A four-time member of the ECAC Hockey All Academic team, Generous contributed seven goals and had eight assists for 15 points and was plus-5 in the plus/minus ratings in 33 games as a senior.
