SLP’s Ayden McCormick shoots five-hole on Northeastern Clinton’s Peter Judkins during a game on Dec. 13 in Lake Placid. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — Having not played in over a week, the Saranac Lake Placid boys hockey team got off to a slow start in its first league game of the season at the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena on Dec. 13.

While the SLP boys did pick up the intensity later on in the contest, the team came up just short on the scoreboard, falling 4-3 to the Northeastern Clinton Cougars in a Champlain Valley Athletic Conference matchup.

Less than two minutes into the game, the Cougars’ Winnie Simpson dangled right past two SLP defensemen before shooting the puck over the head left shoulder of SLP’s goalkeeper, Brayden Munn, to put his team up 1-0.

“We didn’t have the intensity that we wanted to have from the guys in the first period as a team in whole,” SLP co-head coach Josh Spanburgh said. “Some guys had it and some didn’t. If you want to play a whole game it starts in the first period. We played the way we wanted to play in the second and third periods.”

In the second period, eighth-grader Carson St. Louis put SLP on the board when he split the Cougars’ defense. He shifted the puck from his forehand to his backhand and fired the puck into the back of the net to the tie game at 1-1. The goal was set up by Noah Munn and Jon Kratts.

SLP’s Grady Draper makes a pass during a game against Northeastern Clinton on Dec. 13. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

With a few minutes left in the second period, Northeastern Clinton scored back-to-back goals from Simpson and Owen Roberts to take a 3-1 advantage. SLP’s junior forward, Evan Willett, responded right away in the third period when he collected a rebound off in front of the net to bring the score within one.

“Our guys got more jazz, they get more involved even the guys on the bench rooting on their teammates,” Spanburgh said. “The second and third is what we want to see, we just need to come out better to start the game.”

Northeastern Clinton extended its lead a few minutes later when Marcus Bedard rifled a shot from the point that was deflected into the back of the net.

Trailing by two goals, SLP’s Ayden McCormick, an eighth-grader, collected a pass in the neutral zone before going on a breakaway with just the goalie. McCormick then buried the puck in the five-hole for his first career varsity goal, with assists going to St. Louis and Noah Munn.

“We have some young that are going to have to play big roles,” Spanburgh said. “We’ve got upperclassmen that are playing big roles as well, but it takes the whole team and not just a few guys to really have success in this league and at this level. Our expectation is that everyone is going to contribute in one way, shape or form.

“Right now, we do have some young guys, eighth-graders and ninth-graders that are playing a big part for our team,” he added.

For the entire third period, SLP outshot the Cougars 12-6, but the team was unable to find the equalizer. The loss dropped the team’s overall record to 1-3 on the season.

Brayden Munn posted a solid performance in net for SLP, recording 23 saves. Munn’s biggest save came on a 2-1 breakaway in the second period when he shut the door on a cross-ice one-timer. Northeastern Clinton’s Peter Judkins had 22 saves in the win.