Sophomores Felikss Gavars and Jan Lasak both tallied goals for the Saints, but three third period tallies and an empty netter from the Warriors sent the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team to a 5-2 loss to Merrimack on Sunday afternoon in North Andover, Mass.

The Scarlet and Brown fell to 1-3 on the year, while the Warriors improved to 2-2.

The first period was a fast-paced one between the two teams that saw 30 shot attempts between the two. The opening 20 also saw both teams marching to the penalty box with the Saints picking up four penalties and the Warriors getting called for a pair.

Both penalty kill units were up to the task with Merrimack going 0-for-3 and St. Lawrence going 0-for-1.

Despite the penalty-laden period, the Saints had no shortage of chances. Lasak, Tomáš Mazura, and Gavars all had great looks on Merrimack's Hugo Ollas. Mazura had the best chance of the bunch as he had a breakaway on the Warrior goal. The junior worked the puck to his backhand but was unable to sneak his shot past Ollas as the teams stayed tied after 20.



The penalty parade continued in the second with St. Lawrence picking up three penalties and Merrimack taking four. Once again though, both teams would stop all of the man-up chances.

The Scarlet and Brown would break the scoring at the 8:45 mark of the second to go up 1-0. The sophomore Gavars would pick up a pass from Philippe Chapleau as he entered the offensive zone. From there, the forward would toe drag a defender and rifle a wrist shot over the glove of the 6'8" Ollas to take the lead.

With less than three minutes left in the period, Merrimack would tally an equalizer as Devlin O'Brien would finish off a 2-on-1 effort.

The Warriors wasted little time in the third taking the lead as Christian Felton scored an even strength goal at 1:33 to give his team the 2-1 lead. Six minutes later the lead doubled with a Trevor Griebel tally at 7:51 of the third. Merrimack would stay hot scoring again at 10:42 as Michael Citara would tally a power play goal to take a 4-1 lead.

With less than seven minutes to go in the game, the Saints would get a goal back to make it 4-2. Mason Waite started the scoring play skipping a long distance pass off the end boards and onto the tape of Will Arquiett. Arquiett would make a spinning backhanded pass out front to Lasak, who found the back of the net.

That was as close as St. Lawrence would get as Merrimack iced the game with an empty-net goal to make it 5-2.

Ben Kraws would finish the game with 32 saves on the night, while Ollas stopped 20 in the opposing goal.

Power play chances were plentiful for both teams as the Saints went 0-for-7 in the contest, while Merrimack went 2-for-8, with one of their goals being on the empty-net.

The Skating Saints will head home and prepare for next weekend when the team hosts Michigan Tech on Friday night and Lake Superior State on Saturday night.