Everyone coming into Messa Rink Saturday night to watch Union and St. Lawrence play in ECAC Hockey action knew one thing — it wasn't going to be a rout like the Dutchmen's 11-2 victory over Clarkson the night before.

For one thing, the Saints are a lot better team than the Golden Knights. And, for most of Saturday's game, the Saints carried the play. It was that hustle that helped them take a 2-1 lead after two periods. Travis Vermeulen scored what could have been a back-breaking short-handed goal with 6.3 seconds left in the second. He had a step on the Dutchmen defense, and put a backhander past goalie Keith Kinkaid.

"At the start of the game, [St. Lawrence] was clearly playing at a different pace than we were," Union coach Nate Leaman said. "That's because they're a well-coached team. If it weren't for Keith, we've could have been down, 2-0."

But give the Dutchmen a lot of credit. Instead of hanging their heads, they came out for the third period calm, cool and collected.

The results was a three-goal third that lifted the 20th-ranked Dutchmen to a 4-2 win over the Saints. The victory moved the Dutchmen (9-3-4 ECACH, 15-7-6 overall) into a three-way tie for first place with Cornell and Yale.

Union tied it early in the third when Mario Valery-Trabucco, who was standing in the slot, one-timed a Jason Walters pass from behind the net past goalie Kain Tisi 3:09 into the third.

And then luck struck Union at, appropriately, 7:11. Mike Schreiber's left-point shot was going wide to the left of the net. Wayne Simpson was near the net, and he got his stick on it. The puck caromed off the right post and over the goal line, giving Union a 3-2 lead.

"'Schreibs' did a good job of just getting it anywhere near the net," Simpson said. "I was able to get a stick on it. It just went inside the post. It was good to have a shift where we were creating some offense, and finally get it settled in their zone."

Brock Matheson clinched the win with 1:53 left when his fluttering shot from the left point dipped under Tisi's glove and into the net as he was about to try and catch it.

"We got better as the game went on," Leaman said. "In our third period, we just wanted to get out feet moving so we could get up to the same pace they were playing at."

The Dutchmen did that in the nick of time. Now, they are back tied for first place. Union and Yale have six games left, while Cornell has seven.

Leaman isn't worried about first place just yet.
"I think, three weekends ago, we were in first place by ourself, and looked what happened," Leaman said. "Right now, every game in this league is going to be a war. It's a matter of us trying to keep gaining points because you can't get ahead of yourself."

Three stars
My three stars of the game:
1) Keith Kinkaid, Union — made 26 saves, including 12 in the first period when the Saints were dominating.
2) Mario Valery-Trabucco, Union — one goal, one assist.
3) Wayne Simpson, Union — scored game-winning goal on a beautiful tip.

That is all from Messa Rink. Look for my College Hockey Slap Schotts blog on Monday. If you have any comments, post them below, or e-mail them to me at schott@dailygazette.com.

Good Night! Good Hockey!