The Skating Saints came out of the weekend with a Liberty League record of 1-1-0 after an exciting win against Union College and an overtime loss against RPI. The Saints dominated against Union to open up League play at Appleton Arena on Friday evening. St. Lawrence overpowered Union in both faceoffs won and shots on goal to defeat the Dutchmen 6-3. Defenseman Gavin Bayreuther ’17 put the first goal on the scoreboard to give the Saints the initial lead 11:55 into the game. But the Dutchmen came right back about a minute later to tie the score with a snap from junior Mike Vecchione. SLU quickly responded with a goal from Eric Sweetman ’17, assisted by Christian Horn ’16 at 13:30. Once again, Union tied the game, as sophomore Ryan Scarfo got his stick on a loose puck at 18:42.
The Saints came back onto the ice with a lot of power for the second period. Alex Hagen ’16 immediately put SLU back in the lead with a wrist shot to the upper corner at 1:38. For the last time, Union tied the score with Vecchione’s second goal of the game during a power play. Joe Sullivan ’18 scored the game winner, assisted by Sweetman and Mike Marnell ’18 at 12:18, but that was only the beginning. Sullivan scored again, this time facing firstyear goalie Jake Kupsky alone, maneuvering around Union’s defense; the goal marked Sullivan’s first career two-goal game. Drew Smolcynski increased the Saints’ lead, ending Kupsky’s night, with a shot fired to the upper corner at 16:19.
Junior Alex Sakellaropoulos entered the net to make 13 saves in the final 23:41, shutting down the Saints’ offense. St. Lawrence’s own Kyle Hayton ’18 was just as successful in the third period, making 10 of his 23 saves in those last 20 minutes.
Union is always an exciting team to go up against, as they push their opponents to play fast and hard. Fights are illegal and broken up quickly in college hockey, but several fans in the student section claimed they saw more fights during this game than they had seen in over a year. Each team had seven penalties, and Union senior Matt Wilkins had a major game misconduct in the second period. The Dutchmen faced 25 penalty minutes overall.
Saturday, the Skating Saints faced RPI, ending their four-game-winstreak in an overtime upset. The Saints outshot the Engineers by nearly twice as many, but RPI’s goalie, freshman Cam Hackett, played an incredible game with 37 saves to win his first start. SLU once again hit the scoreboard first with the only goal for the first period, scored by Jacob Pritchard ’19 and assisted by Bayreuther with 7.5 seconds remaining. The Engineers fought back in the second, scoring two goals within 1:03 of each other, but the Saints battled to tie it up with a goal from Mike Ederer ’19 at 18:58. The Saints regained the lead 6:17 into the third with a four-onone break led by Smolcynski and a wrist shot to the far post. Junior Riley Bourbonnais answered back for the Engineers to tie the game with three goals each at 13:13. The score stayed untouched for the remainder of regulation time. Senior center Mark Miller, a Massena local, decided the game during a two-on-one break, receiving a pass from sophomore teammate Drew Melanson and scoring for RPI. The Saints will head into their next game at Appleton Arena Friday, November 13 at 7:00p.m. against rival Clarkson University.