The Saints got goals from senior captains Ty Naaykens and Mason Waite, but three unanswered goals from the Tigers in the second and third periods led the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team to a 4-2 loss to Princeton on Friday night in Appleton Arena.

St. Lawrence fell to 9-22-2 with the loss and 5-14-2 in the ECAC, while Princeton improved to 11-14-3 and 6-12-3 in league action.

Between the second and third periods of the contest, the hockey program announced first-year Sam Hall as the 2025 recipient of the Kevin Dougherty '79 Memorial Award which is presented to a Saint, who demonstrates the character, leadership, and academic skills Kevin himself possessed. Hall was joined by past winners Evan Mitchell, Felikss Gavars, and Waite along with Director of Athletics Franco Bari and Executive Director of Admissions Lyndsay Malcomb.
 
The two teams came out of the gates fast in the Friday contest and were aided by power play chances on both sides in the early going. Neither team was able to capitalize on the chances as the game went to the TV timeout.

Coming out of the break, the Saints were able to establish some strong pressure and found the scoreboard. Reilly Connors had the puck in the offensive zone and skipped a pass up to Philippe Chapleau at the blue line. The senior captain fired s hot that was deflected by his fellow captain Naaykens and past Ethan Pearson to make it 1-0.



St. Lawrence had another chance on the man-advantage to start the second period but were unable to double their lead. Instead, the Tigers were afforded a power play towards the middle of the period and made the Saints pay with a goal from Luc Pelletier to tie the game.

The Tigers parlayed the pressure into a 2-1 lead later in the period as David Ma scored at even strength to make it 2-1 heading into the third frame.

The Scarlet and Brown came out of the locker room on fire getting five shots in the direction of Pearson. Four of the five were saved while the other shot was blocked aside. Instead, a turnover in the defensive end led to a 3-1 game when Brendan Gorman picked off a pass and scored to take a two-goal lead.

St. Lawrence cut into the lead at the 6:42 mark of the period when Waite found himself alone at the doorstep on the power play. Isaac Tremblay and Connors were battling along the boards and the puck eventually squirted to Waite, who was all alone to the left side of Pearson. The blueliner beat the netminder to make it 3-2.

Unfortunately for St. Lawrence, Princeton wasted little time answering back as Jaxson Ezman scored an unassisted tally to regain the two-goal lead.

The Saints turned up their pressure in an attempt to cut into the deficit and the team was able to control the puck for the better part of the final eight minutes of the contest.

St. Lawrence eventually pulled Mason Kucenski for an extra attacker with 3:26 left in the game and poured on the chances. The Saints got eight shots off in the final minutes of the game but failed to get another goal.

Kucenski stopped 21 shots in the Saints' goal, while Pearson made 31 saves in the visiting goal. Both teams were able to get a goal on the power play with the Saints going 1-for-4 and the Tigers going 1-for-2.

The Saints will wrap up their regular season slate tomorrow when the team hosts No. 13 Quinnipiac at Appleton Arena. Before the contest, the St. Lawrence University men's hockey class will celebrate the team's two graduate students and seven seniors as part of their senior day festivities.