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TROY, N.Y. - Senior Mark McGowan snapped home a third period penalty shot to lift the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's hockey team to a 4-3 victory over 19th-ranked St. Lawrence University on Senior Night at the Houston Field House. With the win, the Engineers improve to 10-23-3 overall (8-12-2 ECAC Hockey), while the Saints drop to 18-13-3 (14-7-1 ECAC Hockey). 

RPI will be the ninth seed in the ECAC Hockey playoffs, which begin on Friday. The Engineers will travel to Potsdam, N.Y. for a best-of-three series with eighth seed Clarkson University. St. Lawrence finishes second in the standings and has a bye through the opening round.

With the game tied, 3-3, McGowan (Toronto, ON/Oakville Blades) broke into the offensive zone and was tripped on his way to the net, drawing the penalty shot. From center ice, McGowan carried the puck up the right side before moving to his left and calmly firing just over the pad of St. Lawrence freshman netminder Kyle Hayton (Denver, CO/Sioux City) for the eventual game-winning tally.

Senior netminder Scott Diebold (Buffalo, NY/Tri-City Storm) was stellar between the pipes for the Engineers, recording 34 saves, including 15 in RPI's big second period. Hayton finished the night with 26 stops at the other end of the ice.

The Saints netted the only goal of the opening stanza when senior captain Gunnar Hughes (Westwood, MA/Waterloo) scored his 12th of the season on the power-play at 19:11. Assists went to classmate Patrick Doherty (Hanover, NH/NH Monarchs) and sophomore Gavin Bayreuther (Canaan, NH/Fargo).

RPI drew even (1-1) at 2:30 of the second period on freshman Mike Prapavessis' (Oakville, ON/Toronto Patriots) first collegiate goal. McGowan picked up the loan helper.

St. Lawrence quickly jumped back in front, 2-1, when sophomore Eric Sweetman (Woodbine, MD/Youngstown) buried the first of two on the night, from senior Justin Bruckel (Geneseo, NY/New Jersey) and sophomore Woody Hudson (Greece, NY/Chicago).

Freshman Drew Melanson (Paramus, NJ/Waterloo Black Hawks) then potted back-to-back goals - 2:07 apart - to give the hosts their first lead of the game. Classmate Bradley Bell (Sudbury, ON/Sudbury Nickel Barons) threaded the needle with a two-line pass that sent Melanson in on a breakaway to tie the game at 2-2. Then on the power-play, Prapavessis drove the puck to the front of the net, but his initial shot was turned away by Hayton. Melanson was waiting on the doorstep to sweep home his second of the night and team-leading ninth of the season.

Sweetman drew the visitors even at 10:54 of the third, whistling home a shot from the left point for his fourth goal of the campaign. Helpers went to freshman Mike Marnell (South Huntington, NY/Des Moines) and junior Brian Ward (Haverhill, MA/Tri-City).

RPI finished 1 for 5 on the man advantage with seven shots, while the Saints went 1 for 4 with six shots.