The Saints rang two shots off the pipe, and created numerous offensive chances, but a bad bounce goal sent the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team to a 1-0 loss against Clarkson on Friday evening at Cheel Arena in Potsdam, N.Y.

St. Lawrence moved to 6-13-4 with the loss and 4-7-2 in conference play, while the Knights improved to 13-7-5 and 8-2-3 in league play.

"It was a classic college hockey game tonight, and they're a good hockey team," said Charles W. Appleton Head Men's Hockey Coach Brent Brekke "They have a deep lineup and are well-coached. We need to execute when we have the opportunities, especially late in the game. I felt we had some time and space but we just didn't execute. Zetterquist was solid again in net for us and gave us a great chance. We now have to regroup and get ready to compete at a high level back in Appleton tomorrow night."

The Saints wasted little time generating some opportunities and nearly scored in the first minute of play. Off the opening draw, the play shifted to the Clarkson end and landed on the stick of Cameron Buhl. The junior fired a wrist shot onto Jacob Mucitelli, who made the save, but left a big rebound up for grabs. Senior captain David Jankowski made a play for the loose puck with the empty net, but was hooked away by a defender and the puck was ushered out of harm's way.

The Scarlet and Brown had stretches of good pressure throughout including the last three minutes before the media timeout in the first. Jankowski, Tim Makowski, Reilly Moran, and Ty Naaykens all had shots right before the timeout, but were stopped by Mucitelli.

After one period of play, the Saints led 9-7 in shots.

Once again, the Saints had a scoring chance in the first minute of period number two. Jordan Steinmetz was able to knock away a lazy Clarkson pass to the stick of Naaykens, who gave it right back to the junior with open ice. Steinmetz's open wrist shot beat Mucitelli, but found the iron to keep it a 0-0 game.

The shot opportunities started to shift to the Golden Knights and eight minutes and 31 seconds into the period were gifted a power play after Max Dorrington was called for a roughing. The Saints penalty kill was up to the task preventing a single shot to find Emil Zetterquist.

With less than five minutes to go in the middle frame, the Skating Saints got a great bounce off an official that sprung Justin Paul for a breakaway. Paul tried to fake a shot on Mucitelli and go five-hole on the 6-3 goaltender, but was turned away to keep the game scoreless.

The save of the period, and perhaps the game, came from Philippe Chapleau with 62 ticks left in the period. A Clarkson forward came down the right side and fired a shot onto Zetterquist. The shot was stopped but was trickling behind the goaltender. Chapleau came and knocked the free puck away to keep it a 0-0 contest after 40 minutes.

Another hot start from the Saints resulted in another post, this time from Naaykens. Just over a minute into the third, Tucker McIntosh carried the puck end-to-end and found the first year with open space in scoring territory. Naaykens one-timed the puck high off the post to keep the game scoreless.

The Knights were the team to break the tie eight minutes into the final period. Alex Campbell received a pass from a teammate and was attempting to pass it backdoor to a cutting teammate. The sophomore's pass instead hit the stick of a St. Lawrence defender and went in to give Clarkson the only goal of the contest.

Zetterquist stopped 25 of 26 shots in the tough loss, while Mucitelli stopped all 25 shots he faced and the Golden Knights went 0-for-2 on the power play. 

The rivalry weekend continues tomorrow, as the series swings over to Appleton Arena for the second game of the weekend. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 p.m.