Felikss Gavars scored twice in regulation for the Saints, but the game went to a shootout where Jan Lasak scored the shootout game-winner, and Ben Kraws made five saves as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team clinched a top-eight league finish and a home playoff game with their 4-4 tie against Princeton in the Hobey Baker Rink on Friday night in Princeton, N.J.

St. Lawrence went to 10-17-6 on the year and 8-9-4 in ECAC play, while Princeton moved to 10-14-4, and 8-10-3 in league play.

With 29 league points, the Saints are firmly in the top-eight granting them home ice in the Opening Round of the ECAC Hockey Championships next weekend.

Kraws, who leads the Hobey Baker fan vote, stole the show at Hobey Baker Rink stopping 46 shots in 65 minutes of play and five more in the shootout.

It didn't take long for the fireworks to start as the Saints scored just 3:24 in. Tucker McIntosh and Gunnar Thoreson got the puck up the left-side boards to Nicholas Trela, who poked the puck free in the neutral zone, carried the puck in, and ripped a shot through the five-hole of Arthur Smith to take the lead.

Princeton would counter a few minutes later when David Jacobs and Ian Murphy scored 38 seconds apart to take the lead.

Later in the first period, the Scarlet and Brown caught the goalie off guard when a Tomáš Mazura faceoff win quickly ended up in the net. The faceoff was won back to Greg Lapointe, who wired the shot over Smith to tie the game at 2-2. Lapointe has been hot for the Saints with two goals and two assists in his last four games.

The wild opening stanza was capped off with less than three minutes remaining when Gavars found the net for the second time. A point shot from McIntosh, and a Luc Salem screen led to chaos where the sophomore sniper would shovel the puck home for the 3-2 lead. The play was reviewed for goalie interference, but the goal would stand.


St. Lawrence would run Smith in the first leading to Ethan Pearson taking the crease in the middle frame. He was thrown into the fire as 59 seconds into the second, Gavars was given a penalty shot and froze the goalie before scoring to extend the lead. The sophomore now has 12 goals on the year and is the first Saint to score more than twelve goals in a season since Mike Marnell '18 potted 12 in his senior campaign.

The game would settle in and go scoreless for some time despite some great chances from the Tigers that were stymied.

Princeton ratcheted up the pressure in the third and would score twice to even up the game. Before the end of regulation however, a Gavars shot was stopped in the final minute and the rebound was batted by Reilly Moran, but his shot hit the post keeping them off the board.

The game would go to overtime for the fourth game in a row for the Saints and for the fifth time in their last six contests.

Mason Waite would get a great chance early in the period, but the Tigers would own most of the overtime thanks to a power play. Kraws came up huge stopping two one-timed efforts to send it to a shootout.

In the shootout, Lapointe, Tyler Cristall, Gavars, and Will Arquiett were stopped in the first four rounds, but Kraws kept the Scarlet and Brown in it with four saves of his own, two of which came with the extra league point on the line. However, in the fifth round, Lasak would burn Pearson over the shoulder and Kraws would slam the door shut to take the shootout win.

Kraws stopped a season-high 46 shots in the effort, three shy of his career-high of 49. Smith, who was run from the game, stopped 10 shots in 19:57, while Pearson made 18 saves in 44:58 of action.

The Skating Saints' penalty kill came up huge going 3-for-3, while their power play never got a chance on the night despite some spirited play.

The team will wrap up their regular season tomorrow when the Saints head to Hamden, Conn. to take on No. 7 Quinnipiac.