Freshman goaltender Kyle Hayton is following in the footsteps of graduated goalie Matt Weninger in a big way.

Hayton, who has started every game so far in his collegiate career, much as Weninger was the go-to guy in his four seasons in Saint pads, became the first Saint rookie since Weninger's freshman season to post a shutout as he helped the Saints to a split of its home opening series with nationally fourth ranked Ferris State, making 15 of his 33 saves in the third period for a 2-0 win on Saturday night.

Rookie defenseman Mitch Eden's first collegiate goal 4:30 into the game stood up as the game winner as the Saints did all the little things, plus a couple of big things, right in picking up the win and pulling even on the season at 2-2-0 heading into a two-game series at Miami of Ohio on the road next weekend.

Ferris State, which won the series opener on Friday 3-2 in overtime, fell to 2-1 with its first loss of the season as the Bulldogs were outshot by the Saints 37-33 and couldn't solve Hayton, who stopped 76 of the 79 shots he saw in the two game series.

Bulldog senior goalie C.J. Motte had a strong game as well, making 35 saves to keep the Bulldogs in the thick of things, but Ferris State couldn't get anything past Hayton despite a late power play. The Saint bid was also helped along when SLU had a late major power play with 6:03 to play which helped chew up some time late in the game.

Eden crashed the net and poked in a rebound of a shot by Drew Smolcynski for his first collegiate goal to open the scoring with Tommy Thompson also assisting, and it stood as the only goal in the game until senior center Pat Doherty scored his second of the year on a blast just under the crossbar after Justin Bruckel forced a turnover in the Ferris State end at 12:08 of the third.

It was the first collegiate point for Eden and was set up when Smolcynski drove hard to the net and put a shot on Motte which was kicked away, but Eden buried the rebound in a scramble after the first save. Smolcynski picked up his sixth assist in four games on the play.

The Saints were strong defensively from start to finish against the Bulldogs and limited Ferris State to four shots on goal in six power play tries. SLU was also outstanding on faceoffs, winning 40 of 66 in the game.