In a 2024 ECAC Championship game rematch, the home team got a measure of revenge as the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team defeated Cornell 2-1 on Friday night in Appleton Arena.

The Saints improved to 8-16-1 on the year with the win and 4-8-1 in ECAC play, while the Big Red fell to 8-7-5 and 5-5-3 in league action.

It was a high-flying first period with both teams establishing a great pace. Both teams had scattered chances, but the Saints had the early edge in pressure.

That pressure eventually paid off at the 9:14 mark of the first when the Saints hit the scoreboard. A Cornell shot that sailed way wide rimmed around the left wall to Greg Lapointe, who carried the puck into the zone. The senior forward was shut down, but he didn't give up on the play knocking the puck to Will Arquiett, who buried a shot on the empty goal to take the 1-0 lead.

After some extra pressure, Cornell was able to gain some momentum as the first period came to a close, but Mason Kucenski was equal to the task keeping them off the board.



The Big Red, who were being led by coach-in-waiting Casey Jones in today's contest, came out hot in the second period and scored just 2:17 in. Back-to-back plays from Tyler Catalano and Kyler Kovich led to Hank Kempf, who missed the glove of Kucenski to tie the contest.

St. Lawrence didn't allow the game to be tied for long as they regained the lead less than five minutes later.

Jan Lasak controlled the puck and chipped a puck up the right wall to Nicholas Beneteau. A Cornell defender stepped in to knock the puck up to Philippe Chapleau on the blue line. The senior captain did the rest, firing a shot that went off a Big Red stick and pinballed past Ian Shane to make it 2-1.

The Saints nearly doubled their lead moments later when a Tyler Cristall bid rang off the pipe. The rebound came out to Lasak, who was robbed by a sprawling effort by Shane that kept the score 2-1 which lasted into the intermission.

Cornell ramped up their pressure to begin as they looked to equalize the game. Kucenski was a star for the Saints in net stopping numerous great looks from the Big Red. Play would level off for a bit as the Scarlet and Brown took to the power play. St. Lawrence would fail to cash in however and went on the kill almost immediately after and got a kill of their own thanks to Kucenski and the PK unit.

Following the TV timeout, the Saints gained some ground and kept the Big Red out of their zone. Cornell tipped the scales in the final minutes as they were afforded another power play which was followed by an extra-attacker situation. The road team struggled to get any sustained pressure up 6-on-5 as Kucenski and the defensive unit held on for the 2-1 win.

Both Kucenski and Shane came up with 27 saves in the effort and the Saints held the narrow 28-29-28 edge in shots.

The Saints penalty kill was tremendous in the game going 4-for-4, and the Big Red also went perfect going 2-for-2 killing their penalties.

The Skating Saints will be back in action tomorrow night at 7 p.m. when the team hosts Colgate at Appleton Arena. Before the contest, the Saints will honor the 1999-2000 St. Lawrence Frozen Four squad with a ceremonial puck drop, followed by a ceremony at the first intermission.