MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Anselm men's ice hockey team defeated the New England College Pilgrims this evening in their final game of 2009. Freshmen Timothy King (Weymouth, Mass.) and Tucker Mullin (Andover, Mass.) each scored two goals in the game and Ryan Clark (Wadsworth, Ohio) had three assists in the 4-2 victory.  The win lifts the Hawks to 3-3 (2-3 ECAC), while the Pilgrims fall to 2-3-1 (1-3-1 ECAC).

The Hawks struck early, as Timothy King scored the first goal of the game, assisted by Nick Wheeler (Nashua, N.H.), just 55 seconds into the first period.  Ten minutes and four seconds later, Mark Ehl (North Vancouver, B.C.) netted a breakaway goal for the Pilgrims, to knot the score at one. 

Fifty-four seconds into the second period, junior Eric Simonsson (Oskarshamn, Sweden) laced in a slap shot from the right side to score his second career goal and give the Pilgrims the lead.  New England College led by one for just over 10 minutes, when Timothy King scored a breakaway goal to tie the game once again.  Then, with just 12 seconds remaining in the second period, freshman Tucker Mullin netted a power-play goal to regain the Hawks' lead. 

The third period was scoreless, until the Pilgrims took out their goalie at 18:53, and just 16 seconds later, Tucker Mullin beat the Pilgrims to the puck, and secured the game for the Hawks, scoring an empty-net goal, and giving the Hawks a 4-2 victory.

In a very evenly-matched game, the Pilgrims outshot the Hawks 13-9 in the first period, but the two teams' had the same amount of shots on goal in the second and third.  Pilgrim goaltender Aaron Harvey (Milford, N.S.) made 20 saves and allowed three goals in the loss, and Kevin Fairweather (Woburn, Mass.) made 26 saves, to pick up his first win of the season. 

The Hawks will now take a three-week break for the winter holidays.  The team returns to action after New Years on January 3, 2010, when they host Johnson and Wales for a non-conference game at Sullivan Arena beginning at 3:00 pm.