MANCHESTER, N.H. – Liam McKillop (New York, N.Y.) scored two goals and Tim King (Weymouth, Mass.) added three points as the Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team recorded a convincing 5-0 victory over Saint Michael's College on Saturday afternoon at Thomas F. Sullivan Arena.
With the win, the Hawks improve to 3-2-1 overall and in the ECAC East, while the Purple Knights stand at 1-5-1 on the season and 1-4-1 in the ECAC East. In the Northeast-10, the Hawks jump out to a 1-0-0 record and the Purple Knights fall to 0-1-0.
Saint Anselm notched its first tally at 16:09 of the first stanza when McKillop picked up the loose puck off a Mike Richard (Derry, N.H.) rebound on the power play. Richard sent a wrister from the left circle into the pads of Purple Knights goaltender Eric McGuirk before McKillop picked up the puck and sent it into the left side at the left post. King also picked up a helper on the play.
McKillop struck again at 7:49 of the second period when Richard sent a slap shot at the net that King picked up and back-handed into the pads of McGuirk. McKillop came flying towards the crease, gathered in the puck and shot it into the back of the net.
Saint Anselm scored three goals at the close of the third period to solidify the win. The Hawks extended the lead to three at 16:43 of the final stanza when Tucker Mullin (Andover, Mass.) centered a pass from the right side of the net to Eric Czapka (Holland, Pa.), who one-timed the puck into the top corner.
King picked up a goal of his own as he skated left to right across the slot and tipped in a feed from Evan Gogonis (Northboro, Mass.), who stole the puck at the blue line and dished it into the Hawk zone.
Mullin recorded the fifth goal of the contest as he chased down a puck sent out of the Saint Michael's zone, picked it up at the opposite blue line, skated down the right side and across the crease to the bottom of the left circle, where he backhanded the puck off of McGuirk's pads and into the net.
Saint Anselm held a 41-21 advantage in shots and was 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Purple Knights were 0-for-2 on the man-advantage.
In net for the Hawks, Nick Dries (Commerce Township, Mich.) made 21 saves to earn his first career shutout and fifth career win.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m. when they travel to Assumption College in a 6:25 p.m. puck-drop. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and following us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
