CANTON, N.Y. — Under the bright lights of national television, St. Lawrence and Colgate put on a show with St. Lawrence ultimately emerging with a 4-2 victory.
Kyle Hayton was the undisputed No. 1 star, making 44 saves, including 18 in the second period and 16 in the third.
An early power play to Colgate, just 32 seconds into the period, appeared to give the Raiders the upper hand. However, a strong kill by St. Lawrence set the tone for the period, in which the Saints emerged with a 2-0 lead.
The first goal was credited to Joe Sullivan, who tipped a long-range wrist shot from Ben Masella at the 3:34 mark of the opening frame.
The Saints’ next goal came 3:16 later when Drew Smolcynski took a pass from Jacob Pritchard and deked through the crease, beating Charlie Finn blocker side to give SLU a 2-0 lead.
“[Brian] Ward just put it over the guy’s stick, and I just had a little poise and put it home,” said Smolcynski.
The adage goes that a two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey, and it held true in this contest.
Two goals in the first half of the period for the Raiders knotted the score at two goals apiece. Mike Panowyk scored first for the Raiders at the 3:43 mark. A Saints’ icing led to an offensive-zone faceoff for Colgate, and Panowyk tipped a Brett Corkey shot that came off the faceoff win.
With Finn out of the net on a delayed penalty, Colgate scored the tying goal on a de-facto power play. Rory McGuire netted his first career goal with a hard shot from above the left faceoff circle at the 9:35 mark of the middle frame.
The Saints gained some life after killing the resulting power play, and with a minute and a half to play in the period, scored on a true power play to regain the lead heading into the final period. Pritchard recorded his second assist of the night with a saucer pass through the slot that found a wide-open Smolcynski, who buried the one-timer for his second goal of the night.
“It’s a game of inches, and we work so hard on stick position, but on the PK, our forward had his stick in the wrong position,” explained Colgate coach Don Vaughan.
The third period was an entertaining end to end 20 minutes, with Colgate again dominating the shot totals.
Needing a goal with under two minutes to play and an offensive-zone faceoff, the Raiders pulled Finn in favor of an extra attacker, and the Saints took advantage. A nice stretch pass found Sean McGovern open and he netted the empty-net goal to ice the win for SLU.
“We had a slow start,” said Vaughan. “You have to give them credit. They had a strong start and they were really feeding off the energy of the building.”
“We needed those two points,” said Smolcynski. “Every game in our league is tough and we needed a big game, but we have to come out again tomorrow with another tough game.”
