Senior Nick Pitsikoulis and freshman Greg Carey scored two goals each as St. Lawrence University matched its most productive night of the season with a six goal outburst to finish the 2010 portion of the 2010-11 season with a 6-4 win over Vermont on Saturday night.

The Saints, playing their only home game in a stretch of 67 days, improved to 4-8-3 heading into a break for the holidays while Vermont is now 2-9-4 on the season. The Saints won for the second straight time at home in the series between the former ECAC Hockey rivals and snapped a string of two straight wins, both by shutouts, by the Cats.

The game pitted two teams ranked in the bottom eight in scoring nationally, St. Lawrence ranked 50th in goal scoring at 2.21 goals per game and Vermont 57th of 58 Division I teams at 2.07 goals per game. It produced 10 goals, SLU matching its highest output of the season in an end-to-end affair in which both teams used two goaltenders.

St. Lawrence junior Joe Spadaccini, who was making his first NCAA start, was credited with the win with relief help from freshman Matt Weninger, who shut out Vermont on nine saves in the third, while Rob Madore took the loss in relief for Vermont, giving up four goals after shutting out St. Lawrence in each of his previous two career starts against the Saints.

"It wasn't the prettiest game, but it was a good one for us to go into the holiday break on," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "I thought we played with a lot of jump and scored some nice goals. We got some big saves from Weninger in relief and the penalty kill did a tremendous job on the late major to keep us in front."

Vermont turned a St. Lawrence scoring chance into a 1-0 Catamount lead 5:49 into the game when senior wing Jack Downing blocked a shot in the center slot by Saint freshman Greg Carey and the puck popped up in the air. Downing broke away after collecting the loose puck and scored with a shot over Spadaccini's shoulder for his fourth of the season.

The Saints came roaring back to take a 2-1 lead with goals just 1:14 apart. Carey scored his eighth of the year on a power play chance at 8:56, taking a pretty feed from sophomore wing Kyle Flanagan and snapping a wrist shot past Vermont goalie Alex Vazzano. Freshman Kyle Essery then scored his third of the season as he took a pass from junior defenseman Pete Child and sent a shot toward goal which deflected off a skate in front and snuck through Vazzano's pads.

The second period was a wild one as each team scored three goals and the Saints missed a penalty shot.

Pitsikoulis scored his first of the game in a scramble to Madore's left, the puck finding the back of the net after glancing off the goalie's mask at 3:16 of the second to give the Saints a 3-1 lead. UVM cut it to 3-2 when Wahsontiio Stacey scored his eighth of the season on a power play wrist shot from the center slot through a screen at 6:22, but Rick Carden got a step on the Vermont defense and beat Madore with a wrist shot to the far post at 7:35 to make it a 4-2 game.

Carey scored his second of the night, again on a power play off another great pass by Flanagan at 8:52 to make it a 5-2 game, but Vermont stayed in it when Anders Franzon's shot through traffic hit a skate and eluded Spadaccini for Franzon's first career goal at 13:08. Saint winger Max Mobley was awarded a penalty shot at 13:59, but his try for the upper corner went over the crossbar, and Vermont cut the lead to 5-4 at 16:56 when Sebastian Stahlberg scored in a scramble in front of Spadaccini.

Pitsikoulis gave the Saints some insurance 8:22 into the third period when he redirected a pass from Aaron Bogosian past Madore for his fourth of the year and the Saints held on for the win, killing a major power play in the last six minutes and then holding on as Vermont pulled Madore for an extra attacker with 1:20 to play.

Vazzano made 11 saves in the first 20 minutes while Madore finished with 12 over the second and third periods while Spadaccini had seven and Weninger nine saves for the Saints, who outshot Vermont 30-20 for the game.