Max Dorrington and Tucker McIntosh scored goals in the first period less than three minutes apart, and Drake Burgin's first career goal iced the game late as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team skated to a 3-1 win in their home opener against Merrimack College on Friday night at Appleton Arena.

The Scarlet and Brown improved to 1-1-0 on the season, while The Warriors fell to 0-1-0.

"It's nice to get the first win in our home opener," said Charles W. Appleton II Head Coach Brent Brekke "The guys made more plays tonight and executed better when we had our chances than we did a week ago. Nice to see that growth from game one to game two. We're really happy for Drake, scoring a big-time goal for his first one, as well as Lapointe getting on the scoresheet. Boyer's line (alongside Fry and Steinmetz) was our identity line tonight, and played a heavy, gritty game which made us tough to play against."

"I also want to recognize the Merrimack team for their heart and perseverance to compete and honor Josh Ciocco," added Brekke "To play that game tonight, as they are dealing with their tragic loss is unimaginable. I have a tremendous amount of respect for those young men."

St. Lawrence came out of the first period media timeout and jumped onto the scoresheet capitalizing on a 5-on-3 man advantage. On the power play, Mason Waite was patrolling the top of the unit and spun a pass back to Greg Lapointe, who ripped a shot onto net that was saved intitially. Dorrington was at the right place at the right time as he buried the rebound past the six-foot eight-inch Hugo Ollas to claim the 1-0 lead.

Less than three minutes later, the Skating Saints would tack on their second of the game. Felikss Gavars possessed the puck on the side boards and sent a pass out to McIntosh at the blue line. The junior defender played give-and-go with his partner Philippe Chapleau before firing a puck through a Dorrington screen and in to double the lead. The assist for Gavars was the first of his Saints career.

In the second, the Saints' lead was cut in half by a Merrimack power play tally. Transfer forward Tristan Crozier kept a puck in along the wall and found Mark Hillier entering the zone. Hillier played a pass to Filip Forsmark on the doorstep, who dished it right back to Hillier, who beat Emil Zetterquist to make it a 2-1 game.



The Warriors pressured hard in the third to tie the contest, but sophomore defenseman Burgin scored on a 2-on-1 to add and insurance tally. The combination of Waite and Ashton Fry caused a turnover for Merrimack in the Saints' zone that was scooped up by Burgin, who had Lapointe flanking him on the rush. Burgin passed it over to his fellow sophomore but got it back just in time to fire the puck off the crossbar and in to give the Scarlet and Brown the 3-1 lead.

The assist was the second of the night for Lapointe, who was playing in his first game at Appleton Arena since the ECAC playoffs in 2021. The game was 568 days ago and in the contest he tallied an assist on the game-winning overtime goal to send the Saints to the ECAC Championship game.

Merrimack, now down two goals once again, turned up the heat generating 18 shots attempts the rest of the way. The six shots on goal were turned away by Zetterquist between the pipes, and the rest were blocked and steered wide by the stout Saints' defense to seal the 3-1 win.

Zetterquist stopped 21 shots in the win, while Ollas stopped 20 in the losing effort.

Both teams went 1-for-4 on the power play with the Saints' coming on the 5-on-3. St. Lawrence held the narrow 23-22 advantage in shots on goal.

The Skating Saints will be back at Appleton Arena tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. when they line up against the University of New Hampshire.