Isaiah Saville
You couldn’t fault Alaskans Isaiah Saville, Hannah Hogenson and Kevin Lake if they dialed the Goaltender’s Union Support Line over the weekend.
What the three have in common besides their hometown – Anchorage – is that they have received scant goal support from their teams.
Saville, a rookie who is killing it with the ECHL’s Savannah Ghost Pirates, has just a .500 record (3-3-2) to show for it. Saturday night was another case in point – he stopped 36 of 38 shots in a 3-0 loss at South Carolina in which the Stingrays tacked on an empty-net goal to complete two weekend Savannah losses in which Saville received zero total goals.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the masked man from West High in his last six appearances has not surrendered more than two goals in a game and generated a 1.41 goals-against average and .960 save percentage in that stretch. And yet he’s just 2-3-0 in that span.
Hannah Hogenson
For the season, Saville owns a 1.92 goals-against average that ranks fourth on the circuit two rungs below the NHL on North America’s hockey ladder, and he’s also put up a .948 save percentage that sits second in the league.
Hogenson, who plays NCAA Division I women’s pucks at Bemidji State, can relate. She stopped 38 of 41 shots against No. 2-ranked Wisconsin, which won 4-1 Saturday. Hogenson’s team has been outscored 67-17 in her 17 games and scored one or zero goals in 12 of the 17. She’s 3-13-1, 3.83 and .883, and her numbers have likely only reached those levels because she is talented and competitive as hell.
Lake, meanwhile, tends goal for Division III Hamline. He made 24 saves Saturday in a 2-1 loss at Concordia (Minn.). He has limited opponents to two or fewer goals in five of his nine starts. The problem: His team has scored one or zero goals in five of his nine starts. Hence a 3-6-0 record. Still, he checks in solid or better on other fronts – 2.92 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.
Kevin Lake
We turn now to a couple of Wasilla women who make the sport a, um, challenge for opposing goaltenders.
Aurora’s Darci Matson, a sophomore and returning Second-Team All-American in Division III women’s hockey, scored two goals and added a helper in Saturday’s 11-1 win over Lawrence to wrap her 3-4—7 weekend in which she unloaded 22 shots on goal. She has scored a point in each of Aurora’s 11 games this season, has at least one goal in 10 of 11 and multiple points in eight of 11. Plus, she has three games of 10 shots or more and at least five shots in every game. All that adds up to 17-15—32 totals in 11 games, which leads D-III women in goals, assists and points.
So, she’s pretty good at hockey.
Ditto for Potsdam’s Kaylee Merrill. Saturday, she bagged two goals in a 6-1 win over Rivier to notch her fifth two-goal game this season. She has points in nine of 10 games and goals in eight of 10. With 13-4—17 totals, she’s tied for third in D-III in goals. Also, she has scored 37.1 percent of her team’s goals this season (13 of 35) and had a hand in 48.6 percent of her team’s goals (17 of 35).
She also is quite good at hockey.
Cayden Cahill
Finally, let’s check in with a couple of Anchorage cats in the Southern Professional Hockey League. Former UAA forward Drake Glover leads the Fayetteville Marksmen in goals and owns 7-2—9 totals in 14 games. And Cayden Cahill owns 3-5—8 totals in 14 games for the Peoria Rivermen. Cahill didn’t score Friday in a 4-3 loss to the Vermilion County Bobcats, but it wasn’t for lack of trying – he unlimbered 11 shots on goal.