First-year Mason Waite scored for the second consecutive game, and Reilly Moran got the Skating Saints within one late in the second period, but St. Lawrence University men's hockey team fell 3-2 to 15th-ranked UMass Lowell on Wednesday night at Appleton Arena.

The Skating Saints fell to 4-8-4 while the River Hawks improved to 11-3-3 on the season.

"We needed to manage the puck better tonight, especially early in the game," said Charles W. Appleton Head Men's Hockey Coach Brent Brekke "We turned too many pucks over in the first period which allowed them to establish their offensive game. The other factor was the special teams game, they executed and capitalized while we did not. We needed to find a way to get at least one goal on the five-minute major. It was a one-goal game at that point, and we needed to make a difference with that opportunity. They are a real good hockey team, and you have to minimize mistakes, while capitalizing on chances when you play top ranked teams. They showed why they are currently at the top of the Hockey east standings and are highly ranked nationally."

St. Lawrence jumped out of the break and onto the scoresheet just 3:06 into the game. Senior captain Kaden Pickering had possession of the puck in front of Lowell's Owen Savory but was pressured into a shot wide. The puck was corralled up the sideboards by Aleksi Peltonen, who dished it to Waite at the blueline. Waite threaded a wrist shot through traffic and over the glove of the screened netminder for his second goal in as many games.

Three minutes and 43 seconds later, the River Hawks would equalize on a defensive breakdown. Marek Korencik came down the boards and picked up a drop pass from Isac Jonsson, Korencik found himself alone and wristed a shot over the shoulder of Emil Zetterquist to tie the game.

Later in the period, Lowell would capitalize on their first power play goal of the night. Moments into their second man advantage of the night Ryan Brushett found Reid Stefanson, who hit Carl Berglund on the back door to take the 2-1 lead going into the second period.



The River Hawks scored their second power play goal of the night 12 minutes and 18 seconds into the second frame to take the 3-1 lead. Stefanson controlled the puck on the side boards and sent a pass to Berglund, who was fresh off the bench. Berglund shoveled a pass over to Nick Austin, whose slapshot found its way through traffic and past Zetterquist.

With two minutes and six seconds left in the middle period, the Skating Saints would pull back within one. In the Lowell offensive zone, Max Dorrington deflected a River Hawk pass towards the penalty box doors. The sophomore proceeded to hunt down the puck and freed it up with a hit on the wall. Ty Naaykens picked up the loose puck and fired a cross ice pass to the streaking Moran. Moran had plenty of room to operate as he skated in and ripped a wrist shot under the blocker of Savory to make it a 3-2 game.

After being outshot 23-18 in the first two periods, the Scarlet and Brown buckled down in the third in search of the equalizer. The Skating Saints outshot the River Hawks 10-6 in the final frame. St. Lawrence was gifted a great opportunity with a power play with 4:08 left on the clock. After a timeout the Saints got off two shots but were turned away. St. Lawrence would end up pulling Zetterquist with 38 seconds left in the man advantage for the six-on-four. The Skating Saints put five shots towards Savory but could not find a goal to close the game.

Zetterquist stopped 26 shots for the Scarlet and Brown in the effort, while Savory made 23 saves for Lowell.  

St. Lawrence went 0-4 on the power play, while the River Hawks went 2-4 with the man advantage.

The Skating Saints will not have much time to rest as the Scarlet and Brown will be back at Appleton on Friday, December 31st to take on Nebraska-Omaha at 7:00 p.m. in their last game of 2021. The Saints will take on the Mavericks at 7:00 p.m. once again the next night on Saturday, January 1st to ring in the 2022 portion of their schedule.