Manchester, N.H. (December 7) -- The Saint Anselm men's hockey team suffered its first loss of the season, 4-2, to New England College Friday night at Sullivan Arena. The win keeps the Pilgrims undefeated at 5-0-1, 4-0-1 ECAC East, while the loss drops the Hawks to 2-1-3, 1-1-3 ECAC East.

The Pilgrims jumped out to the early 1-0 lead when Alex Muse (Lynnfield, Mass.) scored at the 9:39 mark, assisted by Paul Ruta (Pickering, Ont.) and Trevor Turner (Westbank, B.C.). Per Thunberg (Likoping, Sweden) made it 2-0 in favor of the Pilgrims, finding the back of the net at the 12:41 mark, beating Saint Anselm goaltender, Jason Zuck (Clifton, N.J.), over the left shoulder. Mark Ehl (North Vancouver, B.C.) scored his sixth goal of the season at the 17:05 mark on the power play, assisted by Mike Carmody (Falmouth, Maine) and Turner. The Pilgrims took the 3-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Hawks got on the board 6:41 into the second, when John Hennessey (Westwood, Mass.) blasted a slapshot from the point, beating Pilgrims' goaltender, Ron Baia (West Haven, Conn.), on the blocker side. The goal was Hennessey's first collegiate goal, assisted by Seth Goodrich (Salisbury, Mass.) and Matt Grazioso (Quincy, Mass.). The Pilgrims nearly made it 4-1, when Ruta broke free for a breakaway, but did not convert, ringing the post. 

New England College took the 3-1 lead into the third period, but Saint Anselm cut the lead to one at the 4:20 mark. Chris MacPhee (Windham, N.H.) beat Baia glove-side from the top of the right face-off circle, assisted by John Penny (Andover, Mass.) and Grazioso. It took little time for the Pilgrims to respond, as Carmody scored at the 5:08 mark, assisted by Thunberg and Viktor Berfeit (Stockholm, Sweden), to account for the Pilgrims' final goal.

The Hawks return to the ice after extensive time off, hosting Johnson and Wales on January 5th at 7:30 p.m. at Sullivan Arena.