After leading for most of the game and fending off a flurry of Connecticut chances with a one-goal lead late in regulation, the St. Lawrence men's hockey team had to settle for a 2-2 tie in the opening game of the Ledyard Classic at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire on Saturday night, as the Huskies scored the equalizer with .3 seconds remaining in regulation to force the extra frame.

Officially, the game is recorded as a tie, but the teams went nine rounds in a shootout for tournament purposes.

Alex Gilmour led the Saints with a regulation goal and an assist, as well as a shootout goal, while rookie Jordan Steinmetz also finished with a goal and an assist for St. Lawrence. Starting netminder Emil Zetterquist finished with 39 saves, including 14 in the third period and four in the overtime. UConn finished with a 41-23 advantage in shots on goal.

The Huskies earned the right to play for the Ledyard Classic Championship with a 2-1 win in the shootout. Gilmour had the only successful attempt for St. Lawrence, while Benjamin Freeman answered on the next shot for UConn and Carter Turnbull buried the winner with a shot low on the blocker side just inside the post in the ninth round.

St. Lawrence jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 6:04 mark of the first period with a power play goal from Gilmour, his second goal of the season, as he buried the rebound from a shot by Steinmetz at the right side of the cage. Jake Stevens also assisted on the play.

The Saints' went 1-for-4 with the man advantage, while UConn finished 0-for-2.

UConn tied the game at 1-1 just passed the midway point of the second when Wyatt Newpower jumped on a St. Lawrence turnover on an attempted clear at the blue line and threw a shot on net that may have hit a stick on the way through, as it appeared to fool Zetterquist and skipped in five hole.

Just over two minutes later and fresh off a penalty kill, the Saints regained the lead when Gilmour won a battle on the wall and tipped the puck to Zach Risteau. He was stopped on the initial shot by UConn's Bradley Stone, but Steinmetz one-timed the rebound from the slot to make it a 2-1 game with his third of the season.

UConn pulled Stone with 1:26 to play for the extra attacker and the Huskies kept the Saints pinned in their defensive zone for most of that stretch. Just before the buzzer, Alexander Payusov was able to beat Zetterquist on a rebound chance from the left post to tie the game at 2-2 and send it to overtime.

In the shootout, which was the Saints' third straight in the Ledyard Classic after winning the 2011 tournament in back-to-back shootout games, Stone stopped seven of the Saints' nine shots. Only one attempt sailed wide. Gilmour and Freeman traded goals in the third round to push the shootout into sudden death.

Cameron Buhl, Steinmetz, Gilmour, Philip Alftberg, Keenan Suthers, Aleksi Peltonen, Carson Dimoff, Jacob Nielsen and Callum Cusinato were the shooters for St. Lawrence.

Buhl and Michael Laidley both returned from injury against the Huskies, as did Alftberg, who played his first game of the season on Friday night after missing the entire first half while recovering from injury.

With the tie, the Saints are now 3-12-3 overall on the season, while UConn heads into tomorrow's game with a 7-6-4 record.

St. Lawrence will take on Colorado College in its final non-conference game of the season to finish out the Ledyard Classic on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.