Manchester, N.H. (March 4)-The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team fell to the Skyhawks of Stonehill College 7-4 in the semi-final round of the Northeast-10 Tournament on Wednesday night at the Sullivan Arena. The loss ends the Hawks season at 10-15-1 overall, while the win propels the Skyhawks to 10-12-1 and into the NE-10 Conference Championship game.

In the first period the Skyhawks hit the scoreboard at the 3:29 mark on James Florentino's (West Roxbury, Mass.) eighth lamplighter of the season for the 1-0 lead. Less than three minutes later, Stonehill extended their lead to 2-0 on a two-on-one chance from Skyhawk center Andrew Diozzi (Belmont, Mass.). The Hawks would hit the board on a power-play tally from senior tri-captain Tom Kerwin (Whitman, Mass.) with just over eight minutes left in the period. Senior defenseman Brian Hartigan (Saugus, Mass.) took a shot from the blue-line that Kerwin redirected past Skyhawk netminder Mike Manna (Framingham, Mass.) for the 2-1 deficit going into the second.

Stonehill junior forward Pete Roundy (Simsbury, Conn.) would score two goals for the Skyhawks, less than thirty seconds apart, to make it 4-1 in favor of the visitors. Saint Anselm cut into the lead on a Hartigan goal off an assist from John Hennessey (Westwood, Mass.) to make it 4-2. At the 13:55 mark, Skyhawk forward Zachary Cantin (Saugus, Mass.) gave the visitors a three-goal lead again on a top-shelf shot to beat Hawk goalie Pat Gallagher (Framingham, Mass.), who replaced sophomore goalie Kevin Fairweather (Woburn, Mass.) after allowing four of the five goals.

In the last period the Hawks cut into lead on Hartigan's second goal of the game to make it 5-3. With under two minutes left in regulation, after Saint Anselm pulled Gallagher, Ryan Butler (Arlington, Mass.) made it a one goal game off assists from Mike Nunzianto (Guilford, Conn.) and Coleman Noonan (Norfolk, Mass.). After a Saint Anselm penalty, the Skyhawks put the game out of reach on a power-play goal from James Killeen (Derry, N.H.) with 1:27 left to play. Saint Anselm would pull Gallagher again, and Stonehill forward Pat Greene (Weymouth, Mass.) would add the empty netter for the 7-4 Hawk loss.

Fairweather made 14 saves in the start, while Gallagher made 15 saves in the losing effort. Manna made 37 saves in between the pipes for the Skyhawks in the win.

The game, marked the final appearances for Hawk seniors Brian Hartigan, Joe Fernald (Braintree, Mass.), Tom Kerwin, Mike Nunzianto, Matthew Lowe (Stoughton, Mass.) and Pat Gallagher.