Senior captain Kaden Pickering scored the game-winning goal in the third period and tallied an assist on Mason Waite's first career goal as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team battled to a 4-3 win over Colgate on Saturday night at Appleton Arena to stop their four-game losing streak.

With the win, the Skating Saints improved to 4-7-4 on the season and 3-3-2 in conference play, while Colgate fell to 8-10-0 and 3-5-0 in ECAC action.

After a scoreless first period, the Scarlet and Brown held an 8-5 lead in shots.

In what turned out to be an explosive second period of play, the Saints hit the scoresheet first. Jordan Steinmetz dished the puck out of Saints' zone and found Ty Naaykens at the blue line, who had open ice ahead of him. Naaykens skated in and ripped a slapshot over the shoulder of Carter Gylander at 2:57, giving the Scarlet and Brown a 1-0 lead.



Just about four minutes later, Josh Boyer tallied his first goal in Scarlet and Brown as he tipped a puck past the 6'5" frame of Gylander to put the Skating Saints up 2-0 off the faceoff. Cameron Buhl and Oak Macleod recorded assists on the play. The Macleod assist was his first collegiate point.

Less than a minute later, the Raiders' Griffin Lunn would bring Colgate back within one. Lunn crossed the Saints' blue line on the rush and fired a shot past Emil Zetterquist for the Raiders' first of the game at 7:26.

Colgate's Alex Young knotted the game 2-2, off a feed from Nick Anderson and Pierson Brandon at 10:59.

After a rollercoaster first 18 minutes of the frame, it was the Saints that would close the second period with the edge, as Waite tallied his first collegiate goal on the power play for the 3-2 lead at 18:45. Aleski Peltonen passed the puck off to Pickering from the right circle, The senior forward skated in to the left and lofted the puck across the crease to Waite, who was waiting on the doorstep to send it past Gylander.

After two periods of play, St. Lawrence held a 21-19 edge in shots.

Naaykens nearly added his second of the game in similar fashion as he took off out of the penalty box on the rush with 9:48 to play in the third. The first-year opted for a wrist shot this time around, but Gylander was up to the task deflecting the attempt away with his chest protector.

With less than three minutes to go in the period, Reilly Moran picked off the puck from a Raiders forward, and dropped a pass to assistant captain Tim Makowski, who was up on the rush. Makowski found Pickering to his right side, and the captain did the rest burying the puck for the 4-2 lead and the would be game-winning goal.

The Raiders pulled Gylander for an extra attacker and scored, once again bringing the game back within one at 19:06 with a goal from Colton Young. Gylander would stay on the bench as Justin Paul got sent to the box for a hooking call, but the Skating Saints successfully killed off the short-lived 6-on-4 advantage for the win.

Zetterquist was solid in net finishing with 37 saves in the win, while Gylander made 22 for Colgate in the losing effort.

St. Lawrence went 1-4 on the power play with Waite's tally, while the Raiders went 0-4 in their opportunities.

The Skating Saints will take a break and resume play after Christmas, as they host UMass Lowell on Wednesday, December 29, before hosting a two-game series with the University of Nebraska Omaha on December 31 and January 1. Puck drops at 7 p.m. for all three games.