The St. Lawrence men's hockey team scored twice in the opening period and leaned on another strong performance from
Cameron Smith to knock off No. 17 Union, 2-1, on Saturday night at Appleton Arena.
The win improved the Saints to 1-3-1 overall and 1-0-1 in ECAC Hockey, while the Garnet Chargers fell to 5-4-0 overall and 2-2-0 in conference play.
The victory marked St. Lawrence's first win of the season and its first over a nationally ranked opponent since the 2024-25 campaign, when the Saints earned a 2-1 victory over No. 20 Clarkson at Cheel Arena.
St. Lawrence came out flying in the opening minutes and generated pressure from the outset.
Cooper Pierson put a pair of shots on goal in the first two minutes, while
Gabe Westling and
Nicholas Beneteau also tested Union goaltender Cameron Korpi as the Saints established an early offensive rhythm.
The pressure paid off at 7:35 in the first period. On the rush,
Gunnar Thoreson and
Cayden Casey combined to set up
Luke Posthumus, who wired a wrist shot through traffic into the upper corner of the net for his first collegiate goal to give the Scarlet and Brown a 1-0 lead.
Just over four minutes later, the trio struck again.
Following sustained zone time, Casey collected a Posthumus pass and found Thoreson, who beat Korpi at the 12:06 mark to double the Saints' advantage. The goal proved to be the game-winner, while Casey picked up his second assist of the period and Posthumus recorded his second point of the night.
The Saints carried their 2-0 lead into the intermission and nearly added to it late in the period. A Union interference penalty gave St. Lawrence its first power-play opportunity, and chances from
Jake Rozzi and Casey kept pressure on the Garnet Chargers before the visitors escaped the penalty kill.
Union found its way onto the scoreboard early in the second period. Carrying over a power play from the final seconds of the opening frame, Tyler Dunbar converted 1:25 into the period to trim the Saints' lead to 2-1.
The visitors pushed for the equalizer throughout the middle frame, but Smith stood tall between the pipes. The senior netminder turned aside opportunities from Lefty Markonidis, Lucas Buzziol, Jack Henry, and Dunbar, while the Saints blocked a series of attempts in front of him to preserve the one-goal edge.
St. Lawrence had a chance to restore its two-goal cushion late in the second period when Union was whistled for tripping with 4:45 remaining. The Saints generated several quality looks during the advantage, including three attempts from
Owen Tylec and a shot from Pierson, but Korpi kept Union within one heading into the third.
The final period featured a determined push from Union and a disciplined defensive effort from the Scarlet and Brown.
Union outshot the Saints 11-6 in the third, but Smith continued to answer every test. He denied chances from Jacob Jeannette, Dunbar, Markonidis and Tommy Cronin, while St. Lawrence defenders consistently got in shooting lanes to limit clean looks on net.
The Saints had opportunities to add insurance of their own. Beneteau generated back-to-back shots midway through the period, while Posthumus nearly added another goal with less than five minutes remaining.
Union pulled Korpi for an extra attacker with just over two minutes to play, but St. Lawrence closed out the game with key faceoff wins, blocked shots and another pair of saves from Smith to secure the victory.
Smith finished the night with 31 saves, while Korpi stopped 25 shots for the Garnet Chargers. The Saints blocked 17 shots and killed one of Union's two power-play opportunities, while generating 27 shots of their own.
St. Lawrence will have next week off and will be back in action on Friday, November 20, when the team heads to Colgate to take on the Raiders in a 7 p.m. game.
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