A couple of corrections to recent postings concerning St. Lawrence's
past and future hockey fortunes -
 
Bill's posting of THN's ECAC outlook included the following for SLU:
(sorry I haven't figured out how to quote directly)
 
6.     St. Lawrence Saints (15-6-1)
       The top eight scorers from last season are gone, leaving center Michael
       Allain and wingers Spencer Meany, Gerard Verbeek, and John Massoud to
       lead a depleted offense.  However, the play of goaltender Paul Spagno-
       letti could help the Saints bounce right back.
 
True - The SLU offense has been depleted by the loss of ECAC Player of the Year
Laperriere, 2 Lappins, 2 LaCroixs, and Chris Wells - but I believe they only
lost one other player (Ted Dent) who scored any goals at all. Missing from
the list of returnees were this year's captain Greg Carvel and asst. captain
Lee Albert (who has somehow managed to jump from being a soph. last year
to a senior now).  Carvel and Albert were both in the top 7 for Saint scoring
last year and figure to be the number one line (probably adding a freshman
winger) this year.  That would likely leave Allain centering for Meany and
either Verbeek or Massoud as the second line.  No doubt goals will be tougher
to come by this year, but it's not quite as dire as THN makes out. Is the
accuracy of THN's facts as questionable for the other teams?
 
Spagnoletti on the other hand may have a tougher time  - losing Laperrire
(arguably SLU's all-time best defenseman), his partner Chris Lappin, and
a great penalty killer in Chris Wells will likely mean more difficult
chances for Spags to handle.
 
A couple of postings have listed Laperierre as "playing in Peoria" for the
Blues farm team.  I believe however that he is still in St. Louis - I know
I saw his name in a box score earlier this week.  It will be interesting to
see how the SLU power play adjusts to his absence.  Last year they essentially
played a 1-2-2 with Laperriere mostly alone as "quarterback" at the blue line,
rather than the 2-1-or 2-3 with 2 point men that most teams use.  I don't
believe that anyone on this year's roster has instincts like Laperriere for
doing that.
 
An observation from THN's "Freshmen to Watch" lists - of the 20 players listed
there are only 2 defensemen and 2 goalies. Is that because centers and wings
have more noticable stats or is there really some case for defensive players
being less likely to have a big impact as freshmen? Just for the record - I'll
nominate SLU freshman defenseman Jeff Kungle.
 
Robin Lock
St. Lawrence University