Seven hundred and twenty-two days had passed since St. Lawrence Men’s Hockey team last played in-front of a packed crowed in their coveted Appleton Arena against their Route 11 rivalry, Clarkson University.
Despite a 75 percent cap on attendance due to St. Lawrence’s COVID protocols, the student body did not disappoint in numbers on Saturday night. According to a Saints Athletics Press Release, a sold-out crowd of 2,285 people rounded the wooden stands of the rink for the most anticipated home game of the season.
Senior goalie Emil Zetterquist said it was special seeing Appleton packed again.
“The atmosphere in there was awesome,” said Zetterquist.
This anticipation and atmosphere were matched with a thrilling game. The game ended with a final score of 4-4 against the Golden Knights, who won the shootout to earn the extra league point.
Clarkson earned the first goal of the night in what would be a first period with five combined goals from both teams. Noah Beck netted a goal in the top corner to take the early lead at five minutes. The Saints responded 36 seconds later with a goal from first-year Philippe Chapleau. Chapleau was able to tie up the game with a shot assisted from junior Chris Papas.
Senior Captain David Jankowski was the next to score for the Saints in an even strength 4-on-4 after St. Lawrence ended their first power play of the night when Chapleau received a penalty. Jankowski was able to find the net with the help of Luc Salem.
About two minutes later, another Scarlet and Brown goal came from Nicholas Trela in a transition play. This sparked a goalie change for the Golden Knights and their starting goalie Ethan Haider was replaced by Jacob Mucitelli.
The Golden Knights finished off the first period with a scramble goal from Noah Beck that left the score at 3-2 entering the second period.
Clarkson opened up the second period with a power play that was unsuccessful, a trend that would continue the rest of the game as the Saints held Clarkson 0-3 on power plays throughout the night.
SLU capitalized on a power play at the 9:50 mark after Senior Captain Kaiden Pickering sent a loose puck to Cameron Buhl who drove the puck to the back of the net. This was the only goal of the second period, leaving the crowd buzzing heading into the third period of the game.
The Golden Knights made their comeback in the third period with consecutive goals from Dustyn McFaul and Anthony Callin, forcing an overtime period after tying the game. After a scoreless five-minute overtime, the game officially ended in a tie at 4-4.
St. Lawrence started the shootout for the ECAC point. Buhl, Oak MacLeod and Jankowski were all unsuccessful in their attempts. Zetterquist stopped two Clarkson shots, but let in the final one from Clarkson’s Alex Campbell, earning the Golden Knights the extra point in the ECAC.
Zetterquist ended the night with 25 saves.
“You’ll never be happy coming out of a game against Clarkson winless, but we took some steps this weekend and played great hockey against a great team,” he said.
It is undeniable that it was a special evening in Appleton Arena despite the Saints not getting the outcome they wanted.
The Scarlet and Brown are on the road this weekend for another ECAC matchup against Yale on Friday night and Brown on Saturday night. The Saints are currently 4-7-3 in the league entering the week.