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CANTON, N.Y. - Freshman Kyle Hayton stopped all 27 shots he faced and the St. Lawrence University men's hockey hockey got a last-minute goal from senior Chris Martin, to top Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 1-0, in game one of a best-of-three ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series on Friday night. With the win, the Saints improve to 19-13-3, while the Engineers drop to 12-25-3.

St. Lawrence netted the game's only goal at 19:08 of the third period, when a shot from the left point by Martin (Ottawa, ON/Indiana Ice) deflected off an RPI defenseman and into the net, past junior goaltender Jason Kasdorf (Winnipeg, MB/Des Moines Bucs). Assists went to sophomore Woody Hudson (Greece, NY/Chicago) and junior Alex Hagen (Bronxville, NY/Surrey).

Rensselaer controlled the opening 20 minutes of the game, outshooting the hosts 13-8. Senior Jacob Laliberte (Rockland, ON/Cornwall Colts) had a chance to give the Engineers an early lead, but he was denied by Hayton (Denver, CO/Sioux City). Both teams were unsuccessful on first period power-plays.

The tide began to shift in the second stanza, as the Saints turned up the press on the RPI goal. Kasdorf was equal to the task, stopping all 13 St. Lawrence shots in the frame, while helping the Engineers kill off a pair of penalties. SLU pulled even in shots (21-21) after two periods.

St. Lawrence continued to generate opportunities in the third, but Kasdorf once again stood tall. The Saints were finally able to break through on their 32nd shot of the game, as the deflected point try found its way for the eventual game-winner.

The Engineers pulled Kasdorf for an extra attacker and got the puck deep with 15 seconds left, but were unable to generate a shot on goal. RPI finished 0 for 2 on the power play, while St. Lawrence was 0 for 3. Kasdorf (11-18-2) finished with 33 saves.

Both teams are back in action tomorrow night for game two of the series. Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm.