Tyler Cristall found his first goal of the season, while Felikss Gavars and Ty Naaykens added scores of their own, but it wasn't enough as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team's comeback came up short falling 4-3 to Union on Friday night in Appleton Arena.

St. Lawrence fell to 2-6-1 on the year, while the Garnet Chargers improved to 4-4-0.

The Saints came out hot right from the get-go outshooting Union 5-1. In the onslaught, the Scarlet and Brown had a chance on the powerplay with Mason Waite finding open space. The junior defender scorched a shot that clipped the left shoulder of Kyle Chauvette to keep the Saints at bay.

Later in the first, just seconds after a Union powerplay, Jan Lasak gained control of the puck and skipped a pass up to Tomáš Mazura. Mazura went in on the 2-on-1 and slid a pass over to Cristall, who one-timed home the shot to take the early lead.

The Garnet Chargers would test Ben Kraws late, but the graduate student stood tall making 14 saves in the period.



Union would carry the momentum into the second period scoring in the first 38 seconds when a long shot from Tyler Watkins found its way in to tie the game at 1-1. The Chargers would get goals from Nate Hanley and Brandon Buhr in the next eight minutes of game time to take a 3-1 lead.

The Scarlet and Brown would score on the power play with less than five minutes to go in the second to bring the game within one. While on the man advantage, Waite would find Cristall below the goal line, who sent a pass out to Gavars. The Latvian native wired the shot past Chauvette to make it a 3-2 contest.

Union would once again strike early in the third period as Ville Immonen found himself with space down the left side of the ice and buried his shot to give his team the 4-2 lead.

The Saints would push to get back into the game and ratchet up the pressure. Drake Burgin, Luc Salem would get good looks on a man-advantage but were stymied by Chauvette.

St. Lawrence would finally get back to within one in the last four minutes of the game. Gavars and Waite would combine for assists as they got the puck into the slot, where Ty Naaykens was able to corral the puck and beat Chauvette to make it a 4-3 contest.

The Saints would pull Kraws for the last minutes of the game and nearly tied the contest. The best look came from Cameron Buhl, who fired a wrist shot through a screen and off the iron to keep the offense out of the net.

Kraws finished the day with 25 saves, while Chauvette made 27 in the opposing goal.

St. Lawrence would finish with a 30-29 shot advantage in the contest. Both teams were able to find power play tallies with the Saints going 1-for-5, and the Chargers going 1-for-2.

The Skating Saints will be back in action tomorrow when the team hosts RPI in a 7:00 p.m. game at Appleton Arena.