Easton, Mass. (February 28) - The Saint Anselm men's hockey team clinched the second seed and a first round bye in the Northeast-10 Tournament with a convincing 4-0 shutout over Stonehill to finish the regular season on Thursday night. The win polishes off both teams' regular season, as Saint Anselm finished the regular season 11-11-3, 4-1 Northeast-10. Stonehill finished the regular season with a 11-10-2 record overall, 3-2 Northeast-10, ranked as the fourth seed in the Northeast-10 tournament. Saint Anselm and Saint Michael's finish as Northeast-10 Regular Season Co-Champions, but Saint Michael's wins the tie-break to earn the No. 1 seed in the Northeast-10 Tournament.

Colin Fitzpatrick (Westwood, Mass.) opened up the scoring for the Hawks at the 11:27 mark in the first period, netting his ninth goal of the season. Pat Forshner (Natick, Mass.) assisted on the goal. The Hawks appeared in control through the first frame, outshooting the Skyhawks 14-7 and taking a 1-0 lead into the second period.

The Hawks took a 2-0 lead late in the second frame when Joe Fernald (Braintree, Mass.) scored his fourth goal of the season at the 18:04 mark, assisted by Shane Masotta (Woburn, Mass.).  Just 26 seconds later, the Hawks struck again. Paul Snell (Groton, Mass.) scored his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Fernald and Masotta. The Hawks took the 3-0 lead into the third period.

The Hawks continued the surge with another quick goal early in the third period. Fitzpatrick scored his second goal of the game short-handed, his tenth of the season, assisted by Nick Wheeler (Nashua, N.H.) at the 1:24 mark.

Pat Gallagher (Framingham, Mass.) improved his record to 7-3-0 between the pipes with his second shutout of the season making 27 saves.

The Hawks now have a first round bye in the Northeast-10 Tournament and will host a second round game on Wednesday, March 5th at Sullivan Arena. Game time and opponent will be determined at the conclusion of the first round of the Northeast-10 Tournament on Saturday, March 1st.