Despite a goal and a flurry of other scoring opportunities late in the third period, the St. Lawrence men’s hockey team’s comeback bid fell short, as the Saints dropped their ECAC Hockey opener 3-1 to visiting Union on Friday night.
First-year Jake Stevens scored his first collegiate goal and junior netminder Arthur Brey put together another strong showing in goal for St. Lawrence, making a season-high 38 saves. The Yorba Linda, California native has made 30-plus saves in each of the Saints last three games.
With the loss, St. Lawrence drops to 1-8-0 and 0-1-0 in ECAC Hockey action. Union, on the other hand, pulls even at 5-5-0 and remains unbeaten in conference play at 3-0-0.
After a scoreless first period, Union broke the tie with a pair of goals in the latter half of the second to take a 2-0 lead through 40 minutes.
Cole Maier put home a rebound at the top of crease after Brey made the initial save on Ryan Scarfo for Union’s first goal at 14:33. Less than three minutes later with the Dutchmen on the power play, Sebastian Vidmar pushed the lead to 2-0 when he buried another second-chance opportunity from in close off a shot from Anthony Rinaldi for the eventual game winner.
Midway through the third period, Zachary Emelifeonwu made it 3-0 when he finished off an odd-man rush with Brendan Taylor after the Dutchmen picked up the loose puck from a missed St. Lawrence scoring chance and came up ice with speed.
With time winding down in the third period and the Saints on the power play, Bo Hanson and Philip Alftberg played the puck around the top of the zone to Stevens who was waiting in the left circle for a one timer. His shot beat Union’s Darion Hanson five hole for the lone St. Lawrence goal to spoil the shutout bid to cut the deficit to 3-1.
In the final minute of play and the St. Lawrence net empty to even up manpower, as the Saints’ Joe Sullivan served out the remainder of a tripping penalty, it appeared Carson Gicewicz had tucked the puck inside the near post to pull the Saints within one. However, official review confirmed the Hanson had the puck pinned under his left pad and it never crossed the line.
Hanson made 17 saves for his fifth straight win between the pipes for Union. The Dutchmen finished with a 41-18 shot advantage. Both teams finished 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
St. Lawrence will return to Appleton Arena for an ECAC Hockey game against Rensselaer on Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
