The Saints' defensive core came up huge as Luc Salem scored a big goal in the third before Mason Waite scored in overtime to send the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team to a 3-2 win over Dartmouth College on Friday night in Hanover, N.H.

The Scarlet and Brown matched their 2021-22 season win total with the victory as they improved to 11-10-0 on the year and are now 6-3-0 in ECAC action. The Big Green fell to 2-14-1 and 1-8-1 in league play.

"I give a lot of credit to Dartmouth, they came after us early and got above of on their breakouts which led to us defending too much in the first period," said Charles W. Appleton II Head Coach Brent Brekke "They competed hard and established the way they wanted to play. We can't allow that to happen. We need to be a team that initiates. Lots to learn from that game. In the end - that's an important win for our team." 

The opening 20 minutes was an evenly played one that saw both teams generate eight shots on goal.

Tomáš Mazura churned up offense early for the Saints as the sophomore brought the puck up and through the goal mouth twice, the second of which drew a power play for the Scarlet and Brown at the end of the period.

Felikks Gavars also had a great look on the six-foot eight frame on Cooper Black in the first. The speedy first-year chipped a puck up the boards to himself and burnt the Dartmouth defense to create a 2-on-1. Gavars' wrist shot missed the net to keep the game even.

Offense finally came to the surface later in the second period as Jan Lasak had a grade-A chance. The first-year was fed a perfect pass and went in on a breakaway with the Big Green goaltender. Lasak got a heavy shot off, but it was turned aside to keep it even at 0-0.



Moments later, it was fellow rookie Gavars, who would break the scoring. Waite fed a pass to Drake Burgin on the defensive hinge, who skipped a pass up to Gavars. The newcomer flew into the zone on his off-hand and ripped a wrist shot over the glove of Black to give the Scarlet and Brown the 1-0 lead.

The goal was the first in the young career of Gavars, who also has six assists on the year.

Just after killing off a 5-on-3, St. Lawrence saw their lead disappear with 35 seconds left in the second period when Alex Krause deflected a Jack Cameron shot past Emil Zetterquist.

The tie was broken once again near the midway point of the third when Salem scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season.

Reilly Moran possessed the puck to the left of the Dartmouth goal when he found Aleksi Peltonen, who chased the puck up to the blueline. The senior captain laid a perfect cross-ice pass to a streaking Salem, who redirected the goal through the five-hole of Black to give the team the 2-1 lead.

The game was far from over however as the Big Green would force overtime when Tanner Palocsik came down the ice and beat Zetterquist to make the score 2-2.

In overtime, both teams failed to create dangerous chances as they played for possession. With under a minute in the overtime period, an off-target pass kept Waite on the ice on a long shift as he was changing. The sophomore defender controlled the puck and came down into the zone 1-on-3 during the change, weaved towards the middle and rifled a shot off the post and in to give St. Lawrence their second overtime win in as many games and their third of the season.

Zetterquist stopped 27 shots for the Scarlet and Brown, while Black stopped 29 in the Big Green frame.

Both team's power plays fell flat in a penalty-laden game with both squads going 0-for-4. St. Lawrence held the 32-29 shots advantage in the game.

The Skating Saints will head south to Cambridge to finish the weekend series tomorrow at Harvard University. St. Lawrence and the No. 9-ranked Crimson will line up at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center tomorrow at 7:00 p.m.