Tomáš Mazura opened the game with a goal and assisted on a pair of Drake Burgin goals as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team won a 4-3 thriller over RIT on opening night at Appleton Arena in front of a raucous group of 2,053 fans.
 
The Scarlet and Brown got off on the right foot moving to 1-0-0 on the season, while the Tigers leave Canton with a record of 0-1-0.

"It was a real good win tonight against a skilled team," said Charles W. Appleton II men's hockey coach Brent Brekke, who enters his fifth season in this role. "I liked how we handled the third period with the momentum swings; it's a great early sign for a mature team. That game could have turned the wrong way in a hurry when they scored their two goals in the third period. Lots of positives to take from our first game."
 
The Saints got off to a scorching start when Tyler Cristall carried the puck deep into the Tigers zone, faking out the defensemen, and serving it to Mazura. Mazura, a sixth-round draft pick of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers in 2019, didn't miss. He buried the shot from the right circle past Tommy Scarfone for an early 1-0 lead. 
 
St. Lawrence was dominant throughout the first period, firing all five of the game's first shots, and laying bodies to establish a physical presence. St. Lawrence outshot RIT 12-8 after the game's first period despite two Tiger power plays, to the Saints lone man advantage. 
 
Ben Kraws, making his St. Lawrence debut, flashed brilliant saves, recording eight throughout the first period, including important stops when the Saints were a player short. 
 
RIT slowly started to gain momentum back in the second period of play, as the Tigers outshot the Saints 15-7. Kraws was up to the task however, saving 14 shots, including one off of his facemask with five minutes to go in the period. 
 
Late in the second period, a Tyler Fukakusa rebound from a Gustav Blom shot, served as the equalizer for the Tigers as the game went to the third.  


 
After just two goals in the first two periods, it didn't take long for the action to begin in the final period, as Burgin found the back of the net early wiring a slapshot through traffic, sending the Scarlet and Brown faithful into a frenzy. 
 
The action didn't stop there as the Saints added another goal as the Latvia native, Felikss Gavars tabbed his first score of the young season rifling a wrister over the shoulder of the goaltender to extend the lead to 3-1. Gunnar Thoreson, who was making his St. Lawrence debut, was credited with his first career assist on the play, along with Mason Waite. 
 
Then, before fans could sit back down, RIT went on the attack and cut the Saints' lead back down to one. This time, Aiden Hansen-Bukata scored to make it 3-2.
 
Fortunately, Burgin was not done on the night as a St. Lawrence power play led to their fourth goal of the game. With the man-advantage, Mazura possessed the puck at the right circle and fed a pass down to senior captain Justin Paul. Paul would touch it out to Burgin, who buried his shot to extend the lead back out to two.
 
The back-and-forth period trudged on as the Tigers scored another goal to get back to one goal down. Carter Wilkie, RIT's leader in points from a season ago, scored his first goal of the season. 

The Scarlet and Brown defense and Kraws would lock things up from there to keep the Tigers at bay and secure the season-opening win.
 
Kraws finished with 26 saves in his first win with St. Lawrence, while Scarfone stopped 30 of the 34 he faced in the RIT goal.
 
St. Lawrence led the way with a 34-29 shot advantage on the night.
 
The Saints would go 1-for-6 on the power play with ten shots, while the Tigers came up empty-handed at 0-for-3.
 
The Skating Saints will be back in action in a week as the team welcomes Vermont and Penn State to Appleton Arena. St. Lawrence will play Vermont on Friday, October 13 and the Nittany Lions the following night. Both games are a 7:00 p.m. start.