Junior defenseman Mason Waite broke the scoring with a power play goal in the second period, but five unanswered goals from the Griffs, including two empty-net goals, sent the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team to a 5-1 loss at Canisius on Friday night in Buffalo, N.Y.

St. Lawrence fell to 5-11-1 on the year, while the Golden Griffins improved to 6-11-3.

The Scarlet and Brown came out strong in the game with a pair of great looks from Tomáš Mazura that were stopped by Ethan Robertson. St. Lawrence would parlay the efforts into a power play that would end with no goals.

The Griffins had a great 2-on-1 chance on the penalty kill that was turned away by Ben Kraws. The Saints would get a 2-on-1 chance of their own following the power play with Tyler Cristall and Mazura on the break. Cristall's saucer pass was corralled by Mazura but his shot went off the shoulder of Robertson to keep the score even.

Kraws was the start in the closing minutes of the first making a fantastic save on a batted puck before stoning a 2-on-1 effort to keep the game at 0-0 after 20.



St. Lawrence would start the second on the kill and would hold Canisius to just one shot. The momentum nearly led to the game's first goal when Cameron Buhl found himself with space. The forward put a wrap-around shot on goal but could not get the puck over the line for the goal.  

Instead, the Scarlet and Brown would head to the power play where they would finally cash in. With Canisius hemmed in their defensive zone, Drake Burgin moved the puck from the top of the power play to Justin Paul, who fed a pass to Waite. Waite would one-time the effort through the armpit of Robertson to take the 1-0 lead. The Saints would get another power play from a delayed penalty but could not double the lead.

St. Lawrence would continue to pressure for their second goal and had more looks in the second period. Greg Lapointe went in on a 2-on-1 break with Oak Macleod but saw his point-blank shot saved. Then on another power play, Philippe Chapleau was sent a saucer pass for a mini-breakaway, but he could not find twine.

Instead, it was Canisius who would score the second goal of the contest when Cody Schiavon tied the game up with 1:33 to go in the second.

In the third, the Griffins continued to pressure and was offered a chance on the power play to double the lead. The effort was killed by the Saints, but Canisius' Max Kouznetsov was able to bury a loose puck moments after the man-advantage to gain the 2-1 lead 6:10 into the frame.

With just over five minutes to go in the game, the line of Cristall, Max Dorrington, and Will Arquiett combined for a great chance right in front of the Canisius goal but once again were stopped. In the ensuing scrum, the Griffs were nailed with a five-minute major for a facemask putting the Saints up a man.

Despite a great first minute of the five-minute power play, St. Lawrence was assessed a tripping penalty to cancel out the advantage. On the ensuing draw, Matteo Giampa would score to extend the lead for the Griffins.

Canisius would tack on two empty-net goals with the Saints searching to get back into the game.

Kraws finished the game with 37 saves on 40 shots, while Robertson stopped 28 of 29 in the opposing goal.

St. Lawrence went 1-for-6 on the power play and went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill in the loss.

The Scarlet and Brown will play their final non-conference game of the campaign tomorrow at 5:05 p.m. in Rochester. The Saints will take on No. 18 RIT, who they beat 4-3 in the season-opener at Appleton Arena.