Union men’s hockey falls in shootout to St. Lawrence

SCHENECTADY — After experiencing two 3-on-3 overtimes heading into Saturday’s ECAC Hockey game against St. Lawrence, the Union men’s hockey team found out what it was like having a conference game decided in a shootout for the first time.

The Dutchmen had fun with it. However, it was St. Lawrence who celebrated a victory.

Kaden Pickering beat goalie Garrett Nieto on a backhander to the blocker side in the fourth round of the shootout for the only goal of the shootout, giving the Saints a 3-2 victory over the Dutchmen at Messa Rink.

“It was special [and] obviously fun,” said Union junior forward Gabriel Seger, whose extra-attacker goal with 1:11 left in the third period tied the score. “But it would have been more exciting if we came out on top.”

Despite the shootout loss, Union (1-2-1, 3 points ECACH, 2-6-1 overall) earned a point. ECACH games are three-point contests, which started last season. The regulation winner gets three points, the overtime/shootout winner earns two points and the overtime/shootout gets one point. For NCAA purposes, though, the game is considered a tie for the overall record.

Tyler Watkins, Seger and Collin Graf all missed in the first three rounds against Saints goalie Emil Zetterquist. But so did St. Lawrence’s Cameron Buhl, Chris Pappas and David Jankowski. The shootouts moved to sudden death. Brandon Estes missed for Union before Pickering sent the Saints back home to Canton happy.

“It was exciting, especially for the players,” said Union head coach Rick Bennett, whose team was coming off Friday’s 4-3 overtime win over Clarkson. “You could tell on the bench there that they were having a lot of fun. We put out the combos that we thought that could maybe score. But you saw what a .945 [save percentage] goaltender can do, and I thought Garrett did a good job, too.”

Nieto entered the game early in the third period after starter Connor Murphy left because of cramping. The Saints got two quick shots on the junior goalie. Tim Makowski beat Nieto at 4:47 of the third to give the Saints (2-0-0, 5 points, 2-2-3 overall) a 2-1 lead.

The next shot Nieto saved came in overtime, although the Saints did hit the post four times. The Dutchmen’s defensive play was sharp.

It was the second time Nieto replaced Murphy. The other time was Oct. 22 against Lake Superior State.

“It was a little nerve wracking, honestly,” Nieto said. “It was my only second college hockey game. I just went in with the mindset [of] kind of have fun with it. Just roll with whatever happens. I had no idea or no eye sight on that [Makowski] goal. But it was still a lot of fun.”

Union took a 1-0 lead on freshman forward Andrew Seaman’s first career goal with 2:45 left in the first period. St. Lawrence tied it 11 seconds into the second period on an Aleksi Peltonen goal.

With Nieto out for an extra attacker, Seger was at the bottom of the right circle when he fired a wrist shot over Zetterquist’s left shoulder.

“I was first planning on one teeing it,” Seger said. “I didn’t really get in my right stance. Then I took a quick look, and I think [Zetterquist] thought I was going to pass [the puck]. I shot short side high. It worked this time.”

SCHEERER OUT

Union sophomore forward Bram Scheerer will be out “month-to-month” after suffering a lower-body injury in Friday’s game.

Scheerer fell awkwardly in front of the Union bench. He banged his glove on the ice in pain before crawling off the ice. He was helped into the locker room.

“It’s probably a couple of months for him,” Bennett said. “He’s just got to rehab and get going.”

St. Lawrence 0 1 1 1 — 3

Union 1 0 1 0 — 1

St. Lawrence wins shootout 1-0

First Period — 1, Union, Seaman 1 (Smedsrud, Robertson), 17:15. Penalties — Waite, StL (hooking), 11:39. 

Second Period — 2, St. Lawrence, Peltonen 2 (Dorrington, Chapleau), :11. Penalties — McIntosh, StL (interference), 3:50; Clarke, StL (holding), 7:10; Immonen, Uni (holding), 14:44; Villegas, Uni (tripping), 18:17. 

Third Period — 3, St. Lawrence, Makowski 1 (Jankowski, Paul), 4:47. 4, Union, Seger 2 (Estes, Petruolo), 18:49. Penalties — Salem, StL (high-sticking), 5:12; Petruolo, Uni (boarding), 8:22. 

Overtime — None. Penalties — None.

Shootout — St. Lawrence 1 (Buhl NG, Pappas NG, Jankowski NG, Pickering G). Union 0 (Watkins NG, Seger NG, Graf NG, Estes NG).

Shots on Goal — St. Lawrence 9-12-5-2 — 28. Union 5-6-14-0 — 25.

Power-play opportunities — St. Lawrence 0 of 3; Union 0 of 4.

Goalies — St. Lawrence, Zetterquist 2-1-3 (25 shots-23 saves). Union, Murphy (23-22), Nieto 0-1-1 (4:00 third, 5-4).

A — 1,594. T — 2:32.

Referees — CJ Hanafin, William Brennan III. Linesmen — Rick Lembo, Jordan Patarino.

RPI WINS

TROY — Justin Addamo and Zach Dubinsky scored 1:53 apart midway through the third period to give RPI a 3-1 victory over Clarkson at Houston Field House.

Clarkson 1 0 0 — 1

RPI 0 1 2 — 3

First Period — 1, Clarkson, Richardson (Jacome), 14:20. Penalties — Addamo, RPI (slashing), 14:50. 

Second Period — 2, RPI, Mahshie (Linden, Sellar), 12:03 (pp). Penalties — Richardson, Cla (hooking), 11:56; Dubinsky, RPI (holding), 16:43. 

Third Period — 3, RPI, Addamo (Agnew, Walsh), 9:29. 4, RPI, Dubinsky (Walsh, Addamo), 11:22. Penalties — Underwood, Cla (holding), 12:32; Leppanen, RPI (tripping), 14:46. 

Shots on Goal — Clarkson 5-9-8 — 22. RPI 4-6-9 — 19.

Power-play opportunities — Clarkson 0 of 3; RPI 1 of 2.

Goalies — Clarkson, Haider (19 shots-16 saves). RPI, Marshall (22-21).

A — 261. T — NA.

Referees — Chris Pitoscia, Tom Steinel. Linesmen — Brendon Wormley, Matt Wyld.

UNION WOMEN LOSE

PRINCETON N.J. — Grace Heiting’s two goals weren’t for Union as it dropped a women’s ECAC Hockey game to 10th-ranked Princeton at Hobey Baker Rink.

Union 1 0 1 — 2

Princeton 2 1 1 — 4

First Period — 1, Union, Heiting (Martinez, Hebert), 5:00. 2, Princeton, Kuehl (Paul, Cormier), 12:58 (pp). 3, Princeton, Neunzert (Griffin, Coene), 17:26. Penalties — Martinez, Uni (slashing), 10:17; Jones, Uni (cross-checking), 12:24; Calabrese, Pri (body checking), 13:18; Kee, Pri (tripping), 18:18. 

Second Period — 4, Princeton, Connors (Neunzert, Kuehl), 6:44 (pp). Penalties — Connors, Pri (hooking), 3:08; Michalicka, Uni (body checking), 6:37; Smith, Uni (interference), 8:05; Jones, Uni (hooking), 11:04; Jones, Uni (body checking), 15:22.. 

Third Period — 5, Princeton, Frankel (Paul, Connors), 15:29 (pp). 6, Union, Heiting (Merlo), 19:32 (pp). Penalties — Merlo, Uni (hooking), 14:29; Fillier, Pri (body checking), 16:07; Griffin, Pri (body checking), 19:26; Kee, Pri (roughing), 19:48. 

Shots on Goal — Union 4-8-9 — 21. Princeton 13-14-12 — 39.

Power-play opportunities — Union 1 of 6; Princeton 3 of 7.

Goalies — Union, Rinzel (39 shots-35 saves). Princeton, Reale (21-19).

A — 378. T — NA.

Referees — Laura White, Matthew McNulty. Linesmen — Scott Steinel, Evan Kehoe.

RPI LOSES

HAMDEN, Conn. — Taylor House’s goal late in the first period helped eighth-ranked Quinnipiac beat RPI.

RPI 0 0 0 — 0

Quinnipiac 1 0 0 — 1

First Period — 1, Quinnipiac, House (Steigauf, Saltness), 15:26. Penalties — None. 

Second Period — None. Penalties — Saltness, Qui (tripping), 13:06; Larsen, RPI (hooking), 18:54. 

Third Period — None. Penalties — Larsen, RPI (elbowing), 4:51; Weiss, RPI, major-game misconduct (hitting from behind), 5:00; Wagner, RPI (tripping), 7:45; Samoskevich, Qui (tripping), 14:47. 

Shots on Goal — RPI 1-7-8 — 16. Quinnipiac 13-5-14 — 32.

Power-play opportunities — RPI 0 of 2; Quinnipiac 0 of 3.

Goalies — RPI, Rampado (32 shots-31 saves). Quinnipiac, Schroeder (16-16).

A — 429. T — NA.

Referees — Michael St. Lawrence, Pierce Marston. Linesmen — Lawrence Kruglyak, Matt Lowe.

Categories: College Sports, Sports