CANTON, N.Y. - The Niagara men's hockey team (0-2-1) was unable to hold a 3-0 lead, surrendering four unanswered goals to drop a 4-3 decision to the St. Lawrence Saints (3-1-0) at Appleton Arena on Saturday night.

The game-winning goal came with less than a minute to play, as a low shot beat sophomore Chris Noonan (Portage, Mich.), who was making his first career start.

The Purps would strike first early in the opening stanza, when a wrist shot from C.J. Chartrain (Pointe-Claire, Que.) at the point beat  Saints netminder Robby Moss. Niagara would take its slim lead into the dressing room, despite being outshot 12-8.

Niagara would score twice in the middle stanza to increase its lead to 3-0. With the second period barely four minutes old, senior Tyler Gotto (Calgary, Alb.) would rip a low shot from the point, that was inadverently deflected by a Saints defenseman past Moss for the 2-0 lead. Senior Chris Moran (Buffalo, N.Y.) picked up an assist on Gotto's goal, marking his 100th career point.

Sophomore Dan Baco (Buffalo, N.Y.) undressed the Saints defender in the neutral zone and took off on a two-on-one with freshman Jeff Hannan (Venetia, Pa.), with the rookie easily tapping in the rebound from Baco's shot for his first career goal. St. Lawrence would net a goal on the man-advantage with over a minute left, but Niagara still held a two-goal lead heading into the final 20 minutes of play.

The Saints made it closer at 3-2 just about midway through the third period, when a low shot in the slot by Mike McKenzie beat Noonan. With a little under two minutes remaining in the third period, the Saints again struck on the power-play to the game, when a centering feed from behind the net was tapped past Noonan.

The Purple Eagles are back in action on Thursday, when they travel to take on nationally-ranked Michigan at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on the Niagara Sports Network and can be heard on WJJL 1440 AM.