An exciting run all the way to the ECAC Championship game in Lake Placid highlighted a 2023-24 season for the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team which finished with a 14-19-6 record and an 8-10-4 ECAC mark.

In the program's fifth season under Charles W. Appleton II Head Men's Hockey Coach Brent Brekke, the Skating Saints made it to their second title game in the last four seasons with their postseason run. Appleton Arena was a friendly confine for the Scarlet and Brown, who went 10-5-2 in front of the Canton faithful.

Following a season-opening 4-3 win over RIT, the Saints struggled early with losses to talented foes in Vermont, No. 17 Penn State, Merrimack, and Lake Superior State. St. Lawrence would split series against Ferris State and Union/RPI before falling in four straight to Yale, Brown, and No. 15 Western Michigan.

St. Lawrence went into their winter break with a sweep however sweeping Dartmouth and Harvard on home ice. Their shutout win over Harvard was the second for the Scarlet and Brown in their 117-game series history. The other shutout came in February of the 1991-92 season when Paul Spagnoletti '94 pitched a shutout in a 4-0 win over the Crimson in Appleton Arena. It was also the first win for the Saints over Harvard since the 2019-20 season when St. Lawrence skated away with a 6-3 Senior Night win.

Following a pair of exhibition games against the USNTDP U-18s, and Ottawa, St. Lawrence had another rough patch going 0-2-2 in what became a turning point in the season at 5-12-3.

The Skating Saints took three of the next four games sweeping Brown and Yale at home, and splitting with Clarkson with each team winning their home game.

Then in February, the Scarlet and Brown would earn a marquee win defeating the defending national champions in No. 5 Quinnipiac. The win over Quinnipiac was 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.

St. Lawrence earned ten league points in the stretch run to earn the seventh seed in the ECAC Championships and an opening-round series at Appleton Arena. In the ECAC Opening Round, the Saints welcomed Yale to Canton and handed the Bulldogs a 4-2 loss.

Then came the ECAC Quarterfinals at Colgate, the defending ECAC Champions. Game one of the series went to double-overtime where senior captain Luc Salem broke the hearts of the Raiders with a game-winning goal to take the series lead. A back-and-forth game two led to a Jan Olenginski breakaway goal that helped secure a game two win and a trip to Lake Placid for the ECAC Semifinals for the first time since 2015-16.

Tasked with the highly-ranked Bobcats once again, the Saints pulled off another stunner, this time shutting out the No. 6 Bobcats 3-0 behind goals from Max Dorrington, Tomas Mazura and Ty Naaykens to advance to the title game. Ben Kraws only had to stop 22 shots in the effort as the Saints defense locked up the vaunted Quinnipiac attack.

The magical run would unfortunately end in the Championship game for the Saints against No. 14 Cornell. Cameron Buhl scored in the third period to make it a 2-1 contest, but the Scarlet and Brown could not find an equalizer to end their season.

The Skating Saints were led offensively by sophomore standout Felikks Gavars, who posted 13 goals and 12 assists on the season. The Latvia native is the first Saint since Mike Marnell '18 to score more than ten goals in a season with his 13. He was also the second forward in the last five seasons to record over 20 points along with Zach Risteau, who had 23 points in 2019-20.

The blueline was a strength for the Saints all year with the unit putting up 22 goals and 54 assists for 76 points offensively. Winnipeg juniors Mason Waite (4-16) and Drake Burgin (7-13) each had 20 points from their post, while Philippe Chapleau had five goals and 11 assists for 16 points.

Tomáš Mazura (20), Justin Paul (19), Tyler Cristall (16), Ty Naaykens (14), and Jan Lasak (13) also provided double-digit points on the season.

Graduate student Ben Kraws was nothing short of a superstar for the Skating Saints in his lone season in Canton playing in 37 games with a 2.49 goals against, a .919 save percentage, and two shutouts. For his efforts, Kraws was nominated for both the Mike Richter, and Hobey Baker Awards, and buoyed his success into a contract with the Dallas Stars (NHL).

The Skating Saints will graduate nine seniors and three graduate students from the Class of 2024 in Luke Erickson, Luc Salem, Justin Paul, Reilly Moran, Max Dorrington, Nicholas Trela, Tucker McIntosh, Logan Ritchie, Grant Adams, Cameron Buhl, Josh Boyer, and Ben Kraws. The Class of 2024 was a pivotal one in the history of the program and advanced to two ECAC Championship games winning the title in 2020-21.

2023-24 Awards/Honors

Kevin Dougherty '91 Award
Evan Mitchell

Mike Richter Award Watch List
Ben Kraws

Hobey Baker Award Nominee
Ben Kraws

ECAC Hockey All-Tournament Team
Ben Kraws
Tomáš Mazura

ECAC Hockey Scholar-Athlete of the Year Finalist
Logan Ritchie

ECAC Hockey Defender of the Week
Philippe Chapleau (Feb. 12)
Drake Burgin (Feb. 26)

ECAC Hockey MAC Goaltending Goaltender of the Week
Ben Kraws (Dec. 4)

Team Captains
Josh Boyer (C)
Justin Paul (C)
Luc Salem (C)

Pro Hockey Contracts
Ben Kraws – Dallas Stars (NHL)/Texas Stars (AHL)
Josh Boyer – Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL)
Luc Salem – Utah Grizzlies (ECHL)