Manchester, N.H. (March 5) -- Led by a
four-goal first period, the Saint Anselm men's hockey team advanced
to the Northeast-10 Championship Game for the fifth straight year
with an 8-4 rout of crosstown rival Southern New Hampshire on
Wednesday night at Sullivan Arena.
The Hawks struck first just three minutes into the game when
Coleman Noonan (Norfolk, Mass.) scored on the
power play to give Saint Anselm a quick 1-0 edge. A mere nine
seconds later, John Frey (Westminster, Colo.)
evened things with his 14th goal of the season to make it 1-1. The
Penmen continued to pour it on at the 5:39 mark as SNHU leading
scorer Brandon Hammermeister (Calgary, Alberta)
found the back of the net for the 2-1 SNHU lead. The power play
kept going strong for Saint Anselm though as the Hawks evened
things at 2-2 with 10:36 remaining in the opening stanza on a
power-play score by senior Matt Grazioso (Quincy,
Mass.).
The seemingly endless first-period scoring continued with
another Hammermeister goal before Saint Anselm took a 4-3 lead into
the first intermission with even-strength goals from Paul
Snell (Groton, Mass.) and Colin Fiztpatrick
(Westwood, Mass.).
After a scoreless second period, the Hawks scored their third
power-play goal of the game at the 8:14 mark. Senior Pat
Forshner (Natick, Mass.) took advantage of a 5-on-3
opportunity to put the Hawks in front 5-3 on a goal assisted on by
Brian Hartigan (Saugus, Mass.). SNHU got back
within one with a power-play goal by Hammermeister at the 11:51
mark to complete the hat trick and make the score 5-4. That
one-goal margin was shortlived though as Saint Anselm put up three
goals in just 1:38 to make it an 8-4 game with just over six
minutes left. Brendan Carroll (Duxbury, Mass.)
found the back of the net twice in that stretch, while Grazioso
scored his second goal of the game at the 13:40 mark.
Saint Anselm is back in action on Saturday as the Hawks travel
to Colchester, Vt. to take on top-seeded Saint Michael's. Game time
is set for 3 p.m. The Hawks dropped a 7-3 final to the Ice Knights
earlier this season.
