Senior captains Kaden Pickering and David Jankowski combined for three assists, while Ashton Fry and Mason Waite each had a goal and an assist in the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team's 3-1 win over Yale on Saturday night at Appleton Arena.

With the win, the Skating Saints improved to 9-16-7 and 7-10-5 in the ECAC, while Yale fell to 8-19-1, 7-14-1. The win also give the Scarlet and Brown 26 points on the year, which lands them in the all-important eighth place spot with one game left on the ECAC schedule between Harvard and Princeton, who are three points back of the Saints.

Before today's contest, the St. Lawrence University men's hockey program honored the four members of the 2022 senior class. The four members being captains David Jankowski, and Kaden Pickering, along with Jeff Clarke and Emil Zetterquist.  



"We took a step and matured as a team tonight," said Charles W. Appleton Head Men's Hockey Coach Brent Brekke "We managed the game well in the third and played well with the lead. I couldn't be more happy and proud of our four seniors. The team wanted this win bad for that group and played hard for them!"

The Scarlet and Brown were first to the scoreboard in the important game scoring 10 minutes and 42 seconds into the contest. Justin Paul corralled the puck at the top of the zone and dished a pass over to Waite, who fired a heavy shot onto Luke Pearson. The shot went off Pearson then off the cross bar and floated into the crease where Max Dorrington was able to bury the puck for the 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs didn't stay down long as they equalized the game less than four minutes later. Henry Wagner was a one-man show in the Saints' end getting a shot on goal then regaining his rebound. After collecting and regrouping, Wagner fired a shot from the left circle through heavy traffic and over the left shoulder of a screened Emil Zetterquist to make it 1-1.

St. Lawrence dominated the first frame to the tune of a 15-5 shot advantage.



It took just thirty seconds of time in the second period for Fry to score the would-be game-winning tally. Off the opening faceoff to the period, Pickering dumped a puck into the Yale zone as fellow captain Jankowksi hunted down the loose puck. The senior gained possession behind the net and fed a pass out front to a wide-open Fry, who roofed it home for the 2-1 lead.

At the 12 minute and 49 second mark of the middle period, the Skating Saints doubled their lead. Waite received a pass at the blueline from Pickering and proceeded to toe drag the Bulldog forward looking to poke the puck free. The first-year showed off his offensive prowess taking the puck into the slot and beating Pearson over the shoulder to give the Scarlet and Brown the 3-2 lead. Fry also eanred an assist on the scoring play.

St. Lawrence did well in the third period to manage the puck and disallow any grade-A chances from Yale to find Zetterquist as they held on for the 3-1 win.  

Zetterquist stopped 20 shots in his senior night victory, while Pearson finished with 30 in the loss.

St. Lawrence went 0-for-1 in their lone man advantage, while Yale went 0-for-2. It has now been eight straight games for the Saints with no power play goals scored in the contest for them or their opponent. St. Lawrence's last power play goal came against Clarkson on January 29th, and their last power play goal surrendered was on January 22nd in their 3-1 win over Dartmouth. As a result, the Skating Saints have killed off their last 26 penalties.

With the regular season now in the rearview mirror, the Skating Saints will start their defense of the 2021 ECAC Championship next weekend in the opening round of the conference playoffs. The Scarlet and Brown are in 8th-place in the ECAC standings and are three points up on Princeton, who plays Harvard tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. in the final game of the ECAC schedule. If the Tigers win in regulation, the Saints will surrender the 8th spot to Princeton via a tiebreaker and will travel to New Jersey for a three-game series against the Tigers. Any other ending will result in the Skating Saints hosting a three-game home playoff series for the first time since the 2016-17 season.