It was a tight, one-goal game until midway through the final period of Friday night’s game against St. Lawrence. Then, a pair of freshmen put the Crimson up 2-0 for good.

At 13:22, rookie Mike Taylor stole the puck from Saints’ powerhouse T.J. Trevelyan near the wall, and he fed it to teammate Jon Pelle in the left circle, who roofed the puck over goalie Mike McKenna.

It was a pretty play, though perhaps not particularly noteworthy—except for the fact that it probably shouldn’t have happened.

Both Taylor and Pelle rushed onto the ice to relieve Steve Mandes. In retrospect, neither freshman was sure if he should have.

“It’s actually kind of funny,” Taylor said, adding, “I probably shouldn’t have even been out there.”

Pelle’s version of the story? Nearly identical.

“It was actually funny,” Pelle said, adding, “I wasn’t even supposed to be out there.”

But it was too late—both rookies had committed.

“I kind of looked back,” Taylor said, “and I [thought], ‘I’ve gone too far,’ so I just went down there, and I got the puck.”

That, of course, is Taylor’s bare-bones way of saying that he caught Trevelyan unprepared for the forecheck and stripped the puck from St. Lawrence’s most dangerous player.

“Pelle was breaking,” Taylor said, “and he did most of the work. He caught a pass that was kind of behind him and made a beautiful goal.”

The forwards on the ice for the score were Taylor, Pelle, and Charlie Johnson. The latter two are linemates, while Taylor was skating in the stead of left wing Dan Murphy.

“I chuckled with Murph at the end,” Taylor laughed. “[I] kind of took his assist there.”

AN EMPTY NET

With 3:35 remaining on Saturday night, St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh yanked goaltender Mike McKenna in favor of an extra pair of skates on the attack.