Josh Boyer evened up the game at 1-1 in the second half of the third period which led to  senior captain Tim Makowski scoring the game-winning overtime goal as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team defeated the University of Nebraska Omaha 2-1 at Baxter Arena on Friday night in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Skating Saints improved their record to 9-8 with the win, while Omaha saw their record sink below .500 at 8-9-2. The win also extends the Scarlet and Brown winning streak to four games. 

"That's a big win for our group," said Charles W. Appleton II Head Coach Brent Brekke "They are a very good hockey team and play with good pace. We weathered the storm in the first period and got our legs moving in the second period. Our penalty kill did the job when we needed then to step up. And Zetts was outstanding as usual with timely saves at key moments of the game."

The first period of the contest was one that was controlled by the puck possession of Omaha. The attack was slowed by Emil Zetterquist, who made two point-blank saves in the period en route to nine for the period.

The Skating Saints didn't go without their chances as Tucker McIntosh unleashed two slapshots from the blueline that caused havoc for the Mavericks. Along with those two bids, Felikks Gavars, and Tomáš Mazura also had great looks at Jake Kucharski, but came away empty-handed.

The Scarlet and Brown came out of the first intermission firing as they tied up the shots totals early in the second frame. Less than five minutes into the second, it looked as if the Saints took the lead when a Cameron Buhl bid beat a diving Kucharski and skipped off the post.



With just over five minutes to go St. Lawrence was flagged for a penalty as Omaha pulled their goalie for the extra skater. With the six-on-five advantage the Mavericks got two shots onto Zetterquist but were turned away.

It looked as if the Saints had touched up to stop play, but the call was not made as Tyler Weiss wired a pass to Jonny Tychonick, who fired a long backdoor pass from his blue line post to Ty Mueller, who tapped in the goal for the 1-0 lead. The Scarlet and Brown would kill the ensuing power play effort.

It wasn't until the 8:47 mark of the game that the Scarlet and Brown would knot up the contest. Mazura collected a puck on the side wall and zipped a pass up to Makowski, whose shot was deflected from the point by a Maverick defender.

The puck bounced into the crease where Kucharski failed to collect the bouncing puck. Jordan Steinmetz was first to the scrum getting a touch before Boyer, a transfer from Nebraska Omaha, crashed the net and buried the loose puck to tie the contest at 1-1 with under ten minutes to go. The goal puts Boyer in a tie with Luc Salem and Max Dorrington for the most on the team with five.

Zetterquist and Kucharski both held firm the rest of the period as the game went to a 3-on-3 overtime period.

After withstanding the original Omaha attack, the Scarlet and Brown went on the offensive and got the change they wanted. Tyler Cristall was backchecking when he forced a turnover and dished a pass off to Makowski. The captain carried the puck in towards the right circle before dropping the pass back to Mazura. Makowski wisely swung around the Maverick defenders where Mazura found the captain for the one-time game-winning goal.

Zetterquist shined between the pipes for the Skating Saints stopping 36 shots, including numerous saves to keep the Omaha attack at bay. Kucharski stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced for the Mavericks.

The lethal Omaha power play went 0-for-2 on the man advantage, although they were able to score a 6-on-5 goal on the delayed penalty. The Mavericks also held a 37-22 shots advantage.

The Skating Saints will be back at Baxter Arena tomorrow night as they cap off their weekend and the last game of 2022. The game will start at 8:07 p.m. CT/9:07 ET and will be streamed on NCHC.TV.