Boxscore

CANTON, N.Y. -- St. Lawrence University introduced a host of new faces to its fans and college hockey on Sunday night, but had to settle for a 2-2 tie with Canadian collegiate hockey's University of Guelph in an exhibition game at Appleton Arena.

The Saints used the game as an audition for a host of newcomers and kept nine regulars out of the lineup. Eight freshmen and two transfers made their first appearance in a Saint uniform with a chance to make the traveling squad for the Saints' official NCAA openers at Michigan next weekend.

"This game gave us the opportunity to see the new guys under game conditions and do some evaluation in terms of who will travel next weekend," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "There are going to be a lot of tough decisions, because I thought all of the guys played pretty well."

The young Saints came out flying and peppered Guelph goalie Andrew Arklie in the first period. Arklie turned back the first 12 shots he faced, but senior defenseman Dan Coughlin snapped a shot through traffic which caught the upper corner of the net at 10:07 with rookies Jake Klancher and Jacob Drewiske assisting for a 1-0 Saint lead. It went to 2-0 on a power play at 16:28 with Coughlin again having a hand in the play. He pinched in from the point on the man advantage and slid a cross crease pass to Saint newcomer Augie DiMarzo, a transfer, and DIMarzo put away his first goal in a Saint uniform, although the statistics from the exhibition do not officially count.

Freshman Robby Moss took over from junior Kain Tisi to start the second period in goal for the Saints and was greeted with a Guelph five-on-three power play. The Gryphons converted on the two man advantage when defenseman Peter Campbell snapped one home from the center point at 1:02 to make it a 2-1 game.

Guelph had its best period of the game in the third and took the play to the Saints, but it wasn't until a turnover in the Saint defensive end created a two-on-none against goalie Alex Petizian that the Gryphons were able to tie it. Dave Volpe took a goal-mouth pass from Mike Nelson and buried the tying goal with 35 seconds to go to force overtime.

Petizian kept it a 2-2 game with a big save on Chris Belan 1:35 into the extra period and Guelph backup goalie Scott VanBommel stuffed Saint rookie Brandon Bollig twice in a sequence with just over a minute to play in the overtime to keep it deadlocked.

"The guys came out with a lot of energy early and really took the play to Guelph. I think once that early adrenaline started to fade the game became somewhat more even," Marsh said. "We definitely got what we wanted out of it."