Saint defenseman Gavin Bayreuther had a big night at both ends of the rink and St. Lawrence University's men's hockey team bounced back from a loss at RIT on Friday to rout Niagara 10-2 Saturday night, scoring the most goals for a Saint team since February of 1996.

Bayreuther had two goals and an assist and is averaging a point per game through the first 40 games of his career, sophomore defenseman Ben Masella scored his first two career goals as the Saints blew it open in the second period, giving rookie goalie Kyle Hayton a comfortable lead en route his first collegiate win.

The Saints last hit double digits in goals in a 10-1 win over Yale in 1996. Defensemen accounted for half of the scoring total as Chris Martin joined Bayreuther and Masella among the goal scorers, but the Saints did have two rookie defenders knocked out of action by injury as Matt Purmal was hurt in the first period and Nolan Gluchowski in the third.

The Saints turned in a solid first period and finally broke the scoring ice with 1:36 to go in the first 20 minutes thanks to some persistence by senior Patrick Doherty. While Niagara won a faceoff in its own defensive end, Doherty tied up his opposing center and finally picked up the loose puck at the side of the faceoff circle, snapping a shot over the shoulder of Niagara goalie Adrian Ignagni and under the crossbar for his first of the year.

The Saint offense exploded in the second period, scoring five times to take a 6-2 lead after two periods.

Tommy Thompson used his speed to blast past the Purple Eagle defense and he circled the net, sending a pass to sophomore defenseman who came hard down the middle and tucked home his first collegiate goal with Drew Smolcynski also assisting 1:19 into the second period. Bayreuther then scored his first of the night as he took a feed from senior Justin Bruckel, rifling a shot under the crossbar as he pinched on the rush with Woody Hudson picking up an assist on the play for a 3-0 Saint lead at 5:15 of the second.

Niagara scrapped its way back into it as Phil Nasca snapped a shot under the crossbar at 5:38 and after Hayton made two saves on shorthanded breakaways by the Eagles, he could not get Derian Plouffe's backhander under the crossbar at 13:46 which made it a 3-2 game.

The Saints had a quick answer to Plouffe's goal as Mike Marnell busted up the left wing and cut to the net, scoring his second of the weekend from Eric Sweetman and Bayreuther just 31 seconds after the Niagara goal at 14:15. Bayreuther put the Saints up 5-2 with a power play one-timer off Smolcynski's feed with Nolan Gluchowski also assisting at 17:41 and Hudson capped the big period with his first of the year from Chris Martin on another drive to the net at 18:31.

The Saints tacked on four more goals against Niagara backup goalie Chris Paulin in the third period. Gluchowski scored his first at 4:58, Masella scored his second off Ryan Lough's set up at 10:34; Chris Martin put his first of the year in off the post on a power play at 11:19 and Alex Hagen scored his first of the season on another power play at 15:12.

Hayton had 10 third period saves to finish the game with 23 stops while the Niagara goalies combined for 20 stops.