The St. Lawrence men’s hockey team squared off against their North Country rivals Clarkson last weekend in a pair of non-conference games, one at each school.
On Friday, the Saints scored first then pulled off a late comeback to earn a 2-2 tie at Appleton Arena. The Saints opened the scoring in the second period, when Junior Brian Ward fired a wrist shot from the slot that beat Clarkson goalie, Sophomore Steve Perry, low on the blocker side to give the Saints the lead with less than five minutes remaining in the middle frame.
Clarkson responded quickly with two goals less than a minute after Ward’s tally to give the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead. First, Junior Jeff DiNallo beat SLU goaltender First Year Kyle Hayton on a breakaway to tie the game fro Clarkson. Then, Senior Joe Zarbo took a shot from below the red line that deflected off a skate and found its way to the back of the St. Lawrence net. They would finish the second period holding a 2-1 lead over the Saints.
In the third period, St. Lawrence found just enough offense to even the score at 2. Sophomore Woody Hudson was able to control the rebound from a shot from Senior Justin Bruckel and fired it past Perry to tie the game. Neither team was able to score for the rest of regulation or overtime, and they settled for a tie.
Perry saved 27 shots for the Golden Knights while Hayton made 34 stops for St. Lawrence on home ice.
On Saturday, the Saints made the ten mile trip down route 11 to face the Golden Knights in the unfriendly confines of Cheel Arena. In Potsdam, the Saints recorded their first win against the Golden Knights since the 2011-2012 season with a 4-0 shutout. The shutout was Hayton’s second on the season. St. Lawrence Senior Captain Gunnar Hughes lead the way for the Saints with a three point game consisting of two goals and an assist.
Senior Chris Martin began the scoring for St. Lawrence with just over a minute remaining in the first period. First Year Mike Marnell, recorded a power play goal in the second period to extend the Saints lead, before Hughes scored back to back goals, the second being a shorthanded empty net goal, to seal the win for the Saints. Hayton made 30 saves, while Perry managed only 15 stops of the 19 shots made by the Saints. After the weekend, Kyle Hayton now leads all NCAA goalies in minutes played with 489 and saves made with 276 in 8 games.
With their non-conference series over, the Saints and Golden Knights will play their ECAC games on December 6th at Appleton and January 31st at Cheel arena. The Saints are on the road this weekend with ECAC conference games against Brown and the 2013 national champions Yale. They will return to St. Lawrence to play against Princeton on November 21.