The performance belied the numbers for Minnesota State junior goaltender Phil Cook as he backstopped the Mavericks to a 3-1 win over St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena Saturday night, giving MSU a split of its weekend series against the Saints and stopping SLU's five-game unbeaten streak.

Senior wing Justin Jokinen snapped a 1-1 tie with his third goal of the year with 4:09 to play and the Mavs added a late empty net goal, spoiling a solid performance by Saint senior goaltender Robby Moss and handing the Saints, 8-11-2 a loss in their final non-league game of the season.

Cook made his fourth start of the year and earned his first win, looking nothing like a goaltender who came into the game with a 6.68 goals against average and a .791 save percentage. The Saints were foiled on five power play attempts and had some great bids turned away by the 6-3 netminder.

"It was one of those nights," said Saint associate head coach Mike Hurlbut. "I thought we played a little better than we did last night, but we couldn't get the goals when we needed them.

"It was another good, hard-fought game and both goaltenders were solid. We need to regroup and put together a solid run with nothing but league play left to go."

The Saints conclude the current four-game home stand with ECAC games against Brown and Yale at Appleton on Friday and Saturday.

Defenseman Zach Palmquist opened the scoring for Minnesota State just seconds into the Mavericks' fourth consecutive second period power play. Freshman center Matt Leitner won the draw in the Saint end and Palmquist's shot hit the leg of a Saint player in front and slipped past Moss at 19:42, just five seconds into the man advantage.

Sophomore Greg Carey tied the game for the Saints at 5:56 of the second as he took a pass from center Kyle Flanagan and put a shot into the upper right corner of the goal, just over the shoulder of Cook. Pete Child also assisted on the goal. Jokinen, who was frustrated in several early scoring chances by Moss, finally got one past the Saint senior as he took advantage of an unsettled situation in front of the Saint goal and snapped a shot just under the crossbar for the game winner at 15:51.

The Saints pulled Moss for an extra attacker with just under a minute to play, but Cook stopped one scoring bid and senior wing Adam Mueller put the lid on the win with an empty net goal as the final horn sounded.