COLCHESTER, Vt. – Saint Anselm took advantage of four power play goals to bring home the Northeast-10 Conference Championship for the second consecutive year at Cairns Arena on Saturday, beating St. Michael's, 7-4. The Purple Knights (11-15-1) could not overcome the intense play and solid effort by the Hawks.
For Saint Anselm (13-11-2), senior Coleman Noonan (Norfolk, Mass.) contributed two goals and two assists and earned a spot on the All-Championship Team. Senior Paul Snell (Groton, Mass.) had an assist and earned all-tournament honors, and senior Nick Wheeler (Nashua, N.H.) had a goal and was named the All-Championship Most Valuable Player.
For Saint Michael's, junior Reave MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, and accompanied classmate Brady Earle on the NE-10 All-Championship Team.
The Hawks took a 3-1 advantage in the first period and converted on two of three power play chances. Saint Anselm freshman goalie Robert Kang (Glen Rock, N.J.) had 39 saves on the night and turned in an outstanding performace for the Hawks. Nick Wheeler scored the first Saint A's goal with an assist by Coleman Noonan.
Freshman Alex Pascal (Blue Bell, Pa.) gave the Hawks their first lead in the 15th minute with a wrist shot from the neutral zone with one second left on the power play clock. Sophomore Mike Richard (Derry, N.H) then made it 3-1 with a behind-the-back deflection of a slap shot from senior Jim Toomey (Billerica, Mass.) the Hawks' third power play of the period.
Saint Michael's came back strong in the second period, ending the stanza with the score at 5-4 in favor of the Hawks. Early in the period, Noonan won a faceoff in the Saint Michael's zone, plowed through the defense and scored to put Saint Anselm up 4-1. MacKinnon would answer with his second goal of the game.
Saint Anselm senior Ryan Butler (Arlington, Mass.) countered with a power-play deflection goal in the crease just over a minute later, but back-to-back Saint Michael's goals would put the Purple Knights within one heading into the third period. Sophomore Morgan Bell scored, followed by a goal from Saint Mike's senior Glenn Belmore.
Five third-period penalties against Saint Michael's allowed the Hawks to capitilize and put the game away with two more goals. Noonan gave his team a two-goal lead with an outstanding display of stick handling through the entire Saint Michael's defense and crashed into the net while scoring his second goal of the night. Freshman Steve Mollo (Saunderstown, R.I.) added an insurance goal with the fourth and final power play score for Saint Anselm.
Saint Michael's sophomore goalie Mike Dizgun made 31 saves and finishes the year with an 8-10-1 record, while Kang had an impressive performance ,stopping 39-of-43 shots for the Hawks to improve to 11-8-2.
The Hawks finish their season by recording their second consecutie NE-10 Championship.
