MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Anselm men's ice
hockey team hosted the Southern New Hampshire University Penmen in
its fourth of five regular-season Northeast-10 Conference
games. In a heated clash between the Manchester rivals, the
Hawks came away with a 3-0 shutout victory, fueled by a hat trick
from freshman forward Tucker Mullin (Andover,
Mass.). The win lifts the Hawks to 10-8-1 (3-0-1
NE-10) and jumps them into first place in the Northeast-10
Conference standings with seven points, while the Penmen fall to
3-13-3 (1-5-2 NE-10).
For the fourth consecutive game, the first period was scoreless,
but just 48 seconds into the second period, Timothy King
(Weymouth, Mass.) sent a pass to John Hennessey
(Westwood, Mass.) in front of the net. He tapped the
puck to Tucker Mullin on the left side, who flipped the puck up and
in to put the Hawks on the board.
Midway through the period at 8:26, Mullin scored an unassisted,
wrap-around goal from behind the net, which banked off goaltender
Matt Mastracci's skate and into the goal to put
the Hawks up 2-0. Twenty minutes later, at 8:16 in the third
period, Mullin netted a third goal for the Hawks on a breakaway
drive to complete his first career hat trick.
This is the second Hawk hat trick of the season, after teammate
Coleman Noonan (Norfolk, Mass.) scored three goals
against Tufts University on December 5, 2009. Noonan also
scored the Hawks' only goals of the game during his hat
trick. The last freshman to complete a hat trick for the
Hawks was current junior Ryan Butler (Arlington,
Mass.), who scored three goals against Assumption in his
first season with the Hawks on December 4, 2007.
In the heated clash among rivals, 76 total penalty minutes were
given out, 54 to the Penmen and 22 to the Hawks. Goaltender
Mike Mastracci made 40 saves in the game and allowed all three
goals, picking up his sixth loss of the season. Alex
Wyse (Amherst, N.Y.) turned aside 19 shots en route to his
second career shutout, after earning his first against No. 6
Middlebury a few weeks ago on January 23rd.
The Hawks hit the road on Friday, February 12th, to take on
NESCAC member Hamilton College in an inter-conference game
beginning at 7:00 pm.
