The St. Lawrence University men's hockey team will host No. 11/12 Quinnipiac in a pair of ECAC Hockey contests this weekend at Appleton Arena. 

St. Lawrence enters the weekend one point behind Colgate and four points behind Clarkson in fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings. The Saints and Clarkson have two games in hand over Colgate and Quinnipiac, which sits in first place with 28 points.

FRIDAY, 4 p.m. | APPLETON ARENA | CANTON, N.Y.

Watch: ESPN+ (US) | Stretch Internet (International)
Listen: 95.3 The Wolf / 92.7 WQTK
Live Stats: https://saintsathletics.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary

SATURDAY, 4 p.m. | APPLETON ARENA | CANTON, N.Y.

Watch: ESPN+ (US) | Stretch Internet (International)
Listen: 95.3 The Wolf / 92.7 WQTK
Live Stats: https://saintsathletics.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary

---

SAINTS GAME NOTES

LAST TIME OUT

• St. Lawrence skated to its third tie of the season two weeks ago, a 2-2 final in a non-league game at Sacred Heart on Saturday, February 13. The game was the first non-league contest the Saints have played this season.
• The Saints took a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal by Jordan Steinmetz at the 5:41 mark of the first period, but Sacred Heart's Tim Clifton tied the score six minutes later. Marc Johnston gave the Pioneers a 2-1 lead less than five minutes into the second perdiod, but Kaden Pickering responded with the game-tying goal less than five minutes later.
• Emil Zetterquist played another solid game between the pipes for the Saints, making 29 saves as the Saints were outshot 31-14.
• The Saints were playing a bit shorthanded in their last outing, as senior captains Dylan Woolf and Callum Cusinato were both unavailable due to injuries. Neither player is expected to return to St. Lawrence's lineup this weekend.

SCOUTING QUINNIPIAC

• Quinnipiac comes to Canton with a five-game unbeaten streak dating back to February 5, when the Bobcats defeated the Saints 4-1 in the first game of a two-game set in Hamden, Connecticut. The Bobcats have outscored their opponents 24-5 over the last five games.
• Quinnipiac's offense has really clicked over its last two games, as the Bobcats beat Colgate 9-0 on February 13 and Long Island University 7-1 on Monday. Quinnipiac is 6-for-12 on the power play in its last two games.
• Odeen Tufto leads the nation with 31 assists and ranks second nationally in points with 35. Ethan de Jong (11 goals, 10 assists, 21 points) and Zach Metsa (5-16-21) rank second on the team in scoring, while Ty Smilanic leads the team and is tied for fourth nationally with 13 goals. 
• Keith Petruzzelli ranks fourth nationally with a 1.65 goals against average and has a .932 save percentage. He's tied for third nationally with four shutouts.
• The Bobcats have been solid defensively, ranking second nationally with 1.83 goals allowed per game. Quinnipiac has allowed more than three goals just five times this season and has held the opposition to one goal or fewer 12 times, including in nine of the last 11 games.

SERIES HISTORY

• Quinnipiac has a 19-16-6 lead over St. Lawrence in the all-time series, and the two teams are an even 9-9-3 in games at Appleton Arena. Quinnipiac did win a St. Lawrence "home" game last year at SUNY Canton and is 10-9-3 in games in Canton.
• St. Lawrence holds a 1-2-1 record in the season series.
• The Bobcats claimed the extra ECAC Hockey point with a shootout win after a 2-2 tie in the Saints' season opener on Dec. 31 at Appleton, while St. Lawrence posted a 4-2 win over Quinnipiac three days later in Hamden, Connecticut.
• Quinnipiac then swept a pair of games in Hamden by 4-1 and 2-1 scores.
• Odeen Tufto has two goals and three assists in four games against the Saints this season, while Ethan de Jong has three goals and one assist.

BUHL LEADS SAINTS OFFENSE

• Sophomore forward Cameron Buhl leads St. Lawrence with 12 points on two goals and nine assists through 13 games this season.
• Buhl has already more than doubled his production from his rookie season, when he scored one goal and added four assists in 29 games.
• Buhl is just one point shy of  averaginag one point per game. The last St. Lawrence player to do that was Mike Marnell, who had 27 points in 25 games played (he missed 12 games due to injury) in 2016-17. The last player to average a point per team game for the Saints was Greg Carey, who had 57 points in 38 games as a senior in 2013-14.

ROAD SWEET ROAD?

• While the Saints are glad to be back in Appleton Arena full time this season, the Saints have fared much better on the road than they have at home this season.
• The Saints opened the season with four straight road wins and are now 4-3-1 on the road and 0-3-2 at home.
• The last time the Saints won their first four road games was the 1998-98 season, when the team opened the season 5-0-0 on the road. St. Lawrence also won its first four games away from home in the 1999-00 season, but the fourth win was a neutral site game vs. Wayne State in Buffalo.

NATION'S TOP PK UNIT

• St. Lawrence's penalty kill is the best in the nation with a 93.3% success rate. Bemidji State ranks second nationally at 91.8%.
• The Saints's PK was perfect two weeks ago at Sacred Heart, killing off a season-high six power play opportunities and netting a shorthanded goal.
• The Saints have allowed just three power play goals this season and have two shorthanded tallies for a net score of -1 when skating shorthanded, also best in the nation, two better than second-ranked Bemidji State.
• St. Lawrence has gone 29-for-30 on the penalty kill in its last nine games, dating back to January 10.

GET SHORTY

• Jordan Steinmetz scored a shorthanded goal early in the Saints' 2-2 tie with Sacred Heart on February 13. Kaden Pickering scored the first SHG of the season on January 9 vs. Colgate.
• The last time St. Lawrence scored a SHG prior to this season was David Jankowski's in the 2018-19 regular season finale vs. Colgate.

STRONG STARTS

• St. Lawrence has been strong out of the gate this season, outscoring the opposition 12-6 in the first period.
• The Saints have been outscored 11-8 in the second period and 14-7 in the third.

STRIKE FIRST, STRIKE HARD, NO MERCY

• St. Lawrence has scored first in eight of 13 games this season and is 3-2-3 in those games.
• Last year, the Saints scored the game's first goal in just 13 of 36 games and was 3-7-3 in those contests.

UP NEXT

• The Saints will play a home-and-home series with Clarkson next weekend, though the dates for each team to host are still up in the air.
• If St. Lawrence or Clarkson are hosting an ECAC Hockey women's semifinal on Friday, the men's teams will play the Friday game at the location not being utilized for the women's game.
• St. Lawrence's women's team needs at least seven out of nine points in this weekend's three-game series with Clarkson to have a chance to host a semifinal game next week.