Luc Salem had a career-high three points on three assists, while Max Dorrington scored two goals including the game-winner, and first-year forward Oak Macleod scored his first career goal, as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team closed out a memorable 2021 with a thrilling 3-2 comeback win over No. 14/15-ranked Nebraska Omaha at Appleton Arena on Friday night.

The Skating Saints improved to 5-8-4 on the season, while the Mavericks fell to 13-6-0.

"It was great to see our guys bounce back and beat a good team tonight," said Charles W. Appleton Head Men's Hockey Coach Brent Brekke "We had a lot of adversity to fight through and we found a way to get it done. Special teams were obviously the difference in the game tonight. It was great to see the power play finish when we needed it the most."

The opening frame of the game saw no goals, as Omaha led 13-9 in shots, but it was 0-0 on the board.

The Mavericks would end up drawing first blood in the second period with a shorthanded tally. Thirty seconds into the man advantage, the Saints turned the puck over at the offensive blueline into the lap of Nolan Krenzen. Krenzen chipped the puck off the glass and over the hand of David Jankowski. The puck found Nolan Sullivan, who was one-on-one with a Saints defender. Sullivan took a spinning backhanded shot off the left post and off the backside of Emil Zetterquist to take the 1-0 lead.

Early in the third period, St. Lawrence went on a five-minute penalty kill after being tagged with a contact to the head penalty. On the ensuing kill, Omaha would double their lead. With just over two minutes left in the kill, Brandon Scanlin got the puck to Brannon McManus on the zone entry. McManus found space in the middle of the ice and put a wrist shot on the goal that was tipped in by Chayse Primeau to give the Mavericks the 2-0 lead.


The Skating Saints began their comeback after Omaha was called for an interference midway through the final frame. Cameron Buhl started the play winning the opening draw of the man advantage. Dorrington came from his left-wing spot to tip the puck back to Salem. Salem put a shot on that found its way to Isaiah Saville in net. The effort was stopped but the rebound was corralled by Dorrington, who buried it from the left side of the goal to cut the Maverick lead in half.

Less than five minutes later, the Saints found themselves on another power play looking for an equalizer. Off another faceoff play the puck came out to Salem at the point. The sophomore dished the puck to Buhl on the right side of the power play. Buhl sent a skip pass across the ice that was deflected by an Omaha defender and onto the stick of Macleod. The first-year one-timed the slow-moving puck through a Dorrington screen and over the shoulder of Saville to tie the game at 2-2. The goal was Macleod's first in Scarlet and Brown.

Moments after the Macleod tally, it looked as if St. Lawrence had taken the lead when the puck found the back of the Omaha net after a mess in front of the goal. After a lengthy review it was determined the puck was knocked out of the air by a hand pass before the goal was scored.

The non-goal was shrugged off quickly by the Skating Saints, who scored just ten seconds after play resumed. Right off the neutral zone faceoff the puck was chipped into the Mavericks' zone where Kaden Pickering would end up sending it up to Salem. In a mirror image of the Saints' first goal the defenseman skipped a shot onto the goal and the rebound came out to Dorrington. The forward shoveled home the backhander to give the Skating Saints the 3-2 lead and the eventual game-winner.

After tallying just two assists in the opening portion of the season, Salem had a career-high three points with his three helpers in the Saints' win.

Zetterquist stopped 26 shots in the net for the Saints, while Saville stopped 26 of his own in the losing effort.

St. Lawrence went 2-5 on the power play with their two goals coming on the last two chances, while the Mavericks scored one power play goal in eight attempts.

The Skating Saints will look to carry the momentum into the second game of the weekend series against Nebraska Omaha. The two teams will ring in the New Year tomorrow January 1, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. at Appleton Arena.