Graduate student captain Josh Boyer and junior Philippe Chapleau combined for three goals, and Ben Kraws stonewalled 41 shots as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team downed the No. 5 Quinnipiac Bobcats 3-1 on Friday night in front of a raucous Appleton Arena.  

St. Lawrence improved to 9-15-3 on the year and 7-7-1 in the ECAC with the win, while the defending National Champion Bobcats moved to 19-7-2, and 12-3-1 in league play.

The Scarlet and Brown defeated Quinnipiac for the first time since the 2020-21 season when the Saints claimed the ECAC Championship in Hamden, Conn. It was also their first home win over the Bobcats since the 2016-17 season.

"Really proud of how our guys rebounded from a tough weekend on the road," said Charles W. Appleton II Head Coach Brent Brekke "We didn't play our best and knew we needed to get points on the road. They re-set and played a strong game against one of the top teams in the country.  Hard fought win and big three points in ECAC standings."

The Skating Saints came out firing in the contest controlling play and dumping shots onto Matej Marinov. The early pressure paid off as St. Lawrence would break the scoring. After winning a faceoff back to Tucker McIntosh, Boyer crashed the Quinnipiac goal and hit pay dirt as the graduate student found the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.



After outshooting the Bobcats 13-11 in the opening frame, the visitors applied heavy pressure in the second period, but Kraws and the Saints' defense were up to the task of sending the game to the intermission at 1-0.

Quinnipiac continued to battle in search of an equalizer which they found at the 4:37 mark of the third. Following a St. Lawrence penalty, the Bobcats got the puck to Travis Treloar beside the net where he would push the puck and the leg of Kraws across the line for the goal.

The tie game didn't last long as Chapleau took over the game offensively 1:11 later. Armed with a power play of their own, Mason Waite and Tyler Cristall combined to find Chapleau, who corralled the puck in the slot and rifled a shot off the glove of Marinov and in to reclaim the lead.

The defender wasn't done as less than two minutes later the junior would strike once again. Senior captain Justin Paul hauled the puck up the ice and dished it off to Drake Burgin, who wisely called for the puck with open ice. Burgin would find Chapleau crashing into the slot again where he wired a wrist shot off the post and in to take the 3-1 lead.

With the two-goal lead, the Scarlet and Brown didn't back down getting good efforts from Cameron Buhl and Max Dorrington in the minutes to follow.

However, as expected, the Bobcats unleashed a barrage on the St. Lawrence goal as they looked to cut into the deficit. With the net empty, Quinnipiac was able to generate 10 shot attempts, seven of which found Kraws, who stood tall fending off all seven. Kraws and the likes of Ty Naaykens, Boyer, and McIntosh, who sacrificed their bodies with blocks late in the game held off the attack to claim the win.

The win was the seventh straight home win in ECAC play for the Skating Saints, who now sit alone in seventh place in the league standings after the three-point night.

Kraws made 41 saves in goal for the Scarlet and Brown, while Marinov was only able to get 22 stops in the loss.

The Skating Saints will be looking for the weekend sweep tomorrow when the team hosts Princeton at Appleton Arena at 7 p.m.