Senior captain Jordan Steinmetz scored the would be game-winning goal in the first period, then capped the game and weekend off with an empty-net goal in the third to give the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team to a 4-2 win at Cheel Arena on Saturday night.

With the win, the Scarlet and Brown earned their first regular season weekend sweep over their Route 11 rivals since the 2008-09 season, and their first conference sweep since the 2004-05 season.

"That's an important series for our guys heading down the stretch. Those six points are huge as we push for a top-four spot in teh standings," said Charles W. Appleton II Head Coach Brent Brekke "The guys played well at the important points of the game. The penalty kill was tremendous late on the five-minute kill. Zetts continues to be big time at key moments in games. He's special!"

The Skating Saints evened their record at 13-13-0 with the win, moved to 8-6-0 in ECAC play, and earned six points in the league standings over the weekend. The Knights fell below .500 with loss at 11-12-3 and are 5-7-2 in ECAC play.

Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup wasted no time making his impact felt last night with a goal and did the same today for other reasons. Just 24 seconds into the game, the graduate student earned a five-minute major and a game misconduct which put the Saints on the power play following their minor on the same play.

However, St. Lawrence would not get to the power play before hopping on the scoreboard. On the 4-on-4, Senior captain Aleksi Peltonen picked up a wiffed shot and carried it to the top of the circles where he would put a shot on Ethan Haider. The puck would deflect off a Clarkson defender and in to give the Saints the 1-0 lead.

On the ensuing power play, it was the Knights who would score a special teams goal to tie up the game at 1-1. On the kill, George Grannis would go in on a 2-on-1 with Ryan Richardson, who would put Clarkson on the board with the finish.

The game would remain even until after the TV timeout with 9:33 left in the first. Reilly Moran won an offensive zone draw to Ty Naaykens, who chipped a pass to Greg Lapointe with Clarkson defenders caught up ice. The sophomore dished the puck back door to Moran, who chipped a shot over the glove-side shoulder of Haider to take the 2-1 lead.



Later in the first period, the Scarlet and Brown were tabbed with a penalty putting them on the kill. As the power play was ending, Steinmetz picked up the puck behind the St. Lawrence goal and went end-to-end. Just three seconds after the penalty was released, the left-shot forward wired a wrist shot over the glove of Haider to give the Skating Saints the 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.

The Knights had seen enough as they opened the second period with Brady Parker in goal, marking the second time in as many years the Saints had chased Haider from a contest.

Parker survived the onslaught in the second period to keep the Knights in the game and allowed them to eventually come to within one. At the 2:14 mark of the second, Clarkson made it a 3-2 game when a defensive zone turnover turned into a Mathieu Gosselin goal.

Clarkson desperately tried to even up the contest in the third and was on the power play for seven of the 20 minutes with a St. Lawrence minor penalty and a five-minute major with a game misconduct.

Emil Zetterquist, who was playing in his 100th career game between the pipes, and the Saints defense were up to the task making huge saves down the stretch and blocking many dangerous chances away.

After killing the five-minute major, the Saints would capitalize on the empty-net when a floating puck was corralled by Steinmetz, who carried the puck down onto a breakaway and buried the goal to seal the game at 4-2.

Zetterquist, with his 100^th game, became just the third goaltender in program history to reach 100 games along with Matt Weninger '14 (132), and Kyle Hayton '17 (104).

Zetterquist finished with 30 saves in the win for the Skating Saints. Haider made nine saves on 12 shots for the Knights before being pulled after 20 minutes. Brady Parker made 15 saves on 15 shots in relief of Haider. 

Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play in the game. Clarkson held a narrow 32-28 edge in shots throughout the contest. 

The Skating Saints will make their happy march down Route 11 and begin to prepare for next weekend. Next Friday, February 3, the Scarlet and Brown will travel to Providence to take on Brown before heading to New Haven on Saturday for a game against Yale.