Justin Paul scored two goals, including an empty-netter, and Ashton Fry scored the first-period game-winning goal to lead the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team to a 3-0 exhibition win over 19th-ranked Clarkson at Cheel Arena on Saturday evening.

All three Saints' goaltenders combined for the shutout as Emil Zetterquist started the game, followed by Grant Adams in the second period, and Francis Boisvert in the third.

"There were lots of good things, but there's still things we need to work on. We're happy, and the guys are in a good place going into next weekend," said Charles W. Appleton Head Men's Hockey Coach Brent Brekke "It doesn't matter if its exhibition, regular season, or playoffs, every time you get to play your rivals it's a good thing for both communities, schools, and alumni, and I thought our guys did a good job of embracing that. They went out there an played hard and we were glad we came out with the win."

With both teams playing in front of a crowd for the first time in 500+ days, it was interesting to see how they would come out in the first period. Both teams came out firing to the tune of 26 shots combined in the first period. Zetterquist started the game for the Skating Saints and had eight saves in 20 minutes of shutout action, while Ethan Haider stopped four of the five he faced.

The first goal of the game came off a defensive miscue from the Golden Knights behind their net. A harmless dump and change from the Saints turned into a goal as Haider fumbled the puck behind the net, and saw it slide to the front of his cage. Fry was at the right place at the right time as he charged the Knights' net and buried the loose puck past the sprawling Haider to take a 1-0 lead just two minutes and 13 seconds into the contest.

With 6:14 left in the second period, Justin Paul would put the Saints up 2-0. Tucker McIntosh took control of the puck in the defensive zone and fired a stretch pass up to Cameron Buhl, who was in front of the penalty boxes. Buhl made a heads-up play dishing off a no-look pass to Paul, who was streaking through the neutral zone. Paul had a two-on-one opportunity with Chris Pappas, but with the defender committing to the pass, he decided to shoot and beat the goaltender over the glove side to give St. Lawrence the 2-0 lead.

The early chemistry amongst lines was evident in the game, as the Scarlet and Brown got to dress 24 skaters and three goalies in the exhibition format.

"A lot of guys haven't got to play in front of fans" said Brekke "Guys are a little nervous, a little anxious to get on the ice at the start knowing there's a good crowd, and we have a lot of youngsters who haven't even played a college hockey game yet. I though it was good, I thought it served a real good purpose. To get a division one game under our belt will help us as we get ready to go to Colorado College next weekend."

With 3:46 to go, the Saints had to kill off a six-on-four opportunity as Tim Makowski was called for a penalty, and Clarkson pulled their goalie. St. Lawrence was able to force shots wide, and block the rest as they killed off the penalty and refused to let a shot find Boisvert. Makowski came out of the box, and jumped onto the score sheet just 31 seconds later when he caused a turnover in the defensive zone. The assistant captain dished the puck off to Paul, who lobbed the puck into the empty net for the goal and teh 3-0 lead.

Zetterquist ended up with eight saves in the first period, Adams stopped 10 in the second, and Boisvert stopped the last six in the third in the combined shutout. Haider started the game for Clarkson stopping six shots, and was relieved by Jacob Mucitelli and Brady Parker.

St. Lawrence will open their regular season next weekend on the road against Colorado College on October 8-9. Friday's game will start at 7:00 p.m. MST and Saturday's puck drop will be at 6:00 p.m. MST.

Please note that stats will not count for tonight's exhibition game