MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Anselm men's ice
hockey team hosted the Beacons of the University of
Massachusetts-Boston this evening in an ECAC East Conference
matchup. After a slow start, the Hawks' offense blossomed in
the second half, as they skated to a 5-1 victory over the
Beacons. The win lifts the Hawks to 9-7-1 (7-6-1 ECAC East),
while the Beacons fall to 9-9-1 (5-8-1 ECAC East).
The first half hour of play was quiet, but at 9:04 in the second
period, freshman Tucker Mullin (Andover, Mass.)
caught a pass from Paul Snell (Groton, Mass.) near
the blue line and slapped a hard shot past goaltender Ryan
Donovan to put the Hawks on the board. Five minutes
later at 14:24, Coleman Noonan (Norfolk, Mass.)
and Ryan Holley (Owings, Md.) set up
Michael DeVita (Annandale, N.J.) close to the net
on the right side, who flipped in the Hawks' second goal of the
game.
Just 1:20 into the third period, DeVita got the puck again, and
knocked in his own rebound to put the Hawks up 3-0. Four
minutes later, Ryan Holley took a pass from Noonan and DeVita to
add a fourth goal to the Hawks' offense, the third consecutive goal
from the line consisting of DeVita, Holley, Noonan, John
Hennessey (Westwood, Mass.), who assisted the Hawks' third
goal, and Mike Richard (Derry, N.H.).
At 7:11, DeVita got the puck on a breakaway, but before he could
take a clean shot, Wayne Sands pulled him down
from behind to force a penalty shot. DeVita, facing the
possibility of his first career hat trick, drove the puck in from
center ice, but was unable to get by Donovan, who made the save.
At 12:17, Bryan Albert finally scored one for
the Beacons, netting a power-play goal during a 4-on-3 advantage
situation. At 16:06, John Penny (Andover,
Mass.) added another goal for the Hawks, assisted by
Timothy King (Weymouth, Mass.), to give the Hawks
a 5-1 victory over the UMass-Boston Beacons.
Hawk goaltender Alex Wyse (Amherst, N.Y.), who
was honored before the game in the Hawks' Senior Day celebration,
made 37 saves in the game to pick up his fifth victory of the
season. His Beacon counterpart Ryan Donovan turned aside 34
shots and allowed all five goals to take the loss.
The Hawks return to action tomorrow evening, when they host the
Babson College Beavers in an ECAC East conference game beginning at
4:00 pm. The Beavers currently sit in second-place, one game
ahead of the Hawks, who would move up into a tie for second with a
win tomorrow.
