Yale Hosts St. Lawrence On Banner Raising Night

New Haven, Conn. - Yale University will honor its 2012-2013 NCAA Championship team at the Ingalls Rink tonight with a banner raising ceremony. In addition to having to keep emotions in check on such a night, the Bulldogs will also have to worry about shutting down Greg Carey and the potent St. Lawrence offense.

Yale comes into this weekend's home games against St. Lawrence and Clarkson with a record of 1-1 after a split decision at the Liberty Hockey Invitational in Newark, NJ last weekend. The Bulldogs lost, 4-1, to Brown in the opening game before bouncing back against Princeton for a 3-2 victory.

Star senior forward Kenny Agostino was held scoreless in the two games at the Prudential Center. Junior Nicholas Weberg was the only Bulldogs player to have a good weekend offensively. The Faribault, Minn. native had two goals in the triumph over Princeton.

A pair of freshmen each got a start in goal for Keith Allain's squad. Rookie Patrick Spano started against Princeton, and made 22 stops on 24 shots for the win. Alex Lyon received the loss the night before giving up three goals on 30 shots faced.

Yale's defense and goaltending will have to contend with one of the most dynamic offensive threats in the country on Friday night. St. Lawrence senior Greg Carey has 68 goals and 68 assists on his career and already has eight points this season. Redshirt freshman Matt Carey, his younger brother, has four goals and three assists.

Four Saints players have three or more goals on the season through six games. One small consolation for Yale is its recent dominance over St. Lawrence. Greg Carvel's Saints are winless in their last four outings against the Bulldogs.

If Friday night isn't tough enough Yale will take on a red-hot Clarkson team on Saturday night. The Golden Knights are 6-1-1 and unbeaten in their last five.

Jeff Cox covers college and junior hockey, NCAA recruiting, NHL Draft prospects and the AHL for SBNation. Follow him on twitter @JeffCoxSBNation.