The River Hawk offense came alive in the first period scoring three goals as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team eventually fell 4-0 to No. 17/16 UMass Lowell on Saturday night at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass.

The Scarlet and Brown fall to 0-1-0 on the season, while the River Hawks go to 1-0-0.

"I thought they transitioned really well, which for us is a good challenge getting ready for the season," said Charles W. Appleton II Head Coach Brent Brekke "When we had our opportunities to make plays today, we didn't.I think that was one of the biggest takeaways for us, you have to make plays, execute, and find a way to put the puck in the net or at least get a good scoring chance out of it. Zetterquist was the same we've always seen from him, he's always calm, when there's scrambles in front of the net he stays in position to make the save. Some of those are big time saves that he makes look easy, which is what makes him special. We gotta manage the game better, and stick to our system, I don't think we were great at times in terms of our awareness."

It was all St. Lawrence early in the season-opening contest as the Saints registered seven shots in the first six minutes. On the power play, Drake Burgin and Greg Lapointe each had great scoring chances but transfer goaltender Gustavs Davis Grigals stood tall in the Lowell net.

Following the man-advantage, the Skating Saints continued to pressure the River Hawk goal as Justin Paul, Philippe Chapleau, Tucker McIntosh, and Ashton Fry all had chances to put St. Lawrence on the board.

Momentum shifted towards the middle part of the first period as Lowell put themselves on the board moments after a power play. Brian Chambers scored a tip-in goal off a feed from Ben Meehan and Isac Johnson to claim the 1-0 lead. The River Hawks capitalized on the momentum shift and scored twice more in the following seven minutes. Carl Berglund, and Zach Kaiser scored the other two Lowell goals as they took a 3-0 lead into the intermission.

In the second period, the Saints outshot the River Hawks 16-14 including 10-8 in shots on goal but could not solve Grigals in net going into the final frame.

In the third, St. Lawrence tried to get back into the game with solid offensive chances. Armed with a power play in the opening five minutes, Burgin once again had a good look on the Lowell net, but the puck could not find its way in during the ensuing scramble in the crease.

The Scarlet and Brown had their best look of the game in the last five minutes of the third as Lapointe and Max Dorrington had a two-on-one with under four minutes to go. Lapointe, who was playing in his first game after missing last season, slid a beautiful feed to Dorrington, who was stymied by Grigals to preserve the River Hawks' three-goal lead.

The River Hawks would tack on an empty netter to seal the 4-0 win.

Emil Zetterquist finished with 18 saves in the Saints' net, while Grigals stopped 27 in the shutout.

The Scarlet and Brown had a 27-22 advantage in shots for the game.

Both teams failed to score on the power play as the Saints went 0-for-4, and Lowell went 0-for-5 despite scoring moments after a man-advantage.

The Skating Saints will head home and prepare to celebrate 2022 Laurentian Weekend with a pair of non-conference games at Appleton Arena. On Friday, the Scarlet and Brown will take on Merrimack College at 7:00 p.m., then on Saturday, they will line up against the University of New Hampshire at 7:00 p.m.