SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – Freshman Brendon Kerrigan (Boston, Mass.) scored the first two goals of his career in Saint Anselm's 6-3 win over Saint Michael's College on Saturday afternoon in ECAC Men's East and Northeast-10 men's ice hockey action at Cairns Arena. Saint Anselm went up 3-0 on the Purple Knights, before allowing three from Saint Michael's and eventually tacking on three more of their own for the win.

The contest opened up Northeast-10 conference play for both teams and the Hawks earned their first win of 2013-14 to improve to 1-3-2 overall, 1-3-2 ECAC East and 1-0-0 NE-10, while the Purple Knights fell to 0-5-0 overall, 0-5-0 in the ECAC East and 0-1-0 in the NE-10.

In addition to Kerrigan, junior Johnny Daniels (Andover, Mass.) had a goal and two assists, while seniors Greg Merrill (Brighton, Mich.), Alex Pascal (Blue Bell, Pa.) and Kevin Vanous (Virginia Beach, Va.) each scored once. Junior Sean Jenkins (Boston, Mass.) provided three assists and senior Nick Dries (Commerce Township, Mich.) made 23 saves.

The Hawks were outshot in the opening period, 14-13, but managed to gain a 3-1 lead by the end of the first frame. Kerrigan swooped in on the left wing during an odd-man rush at 2:36 to put his team on the board, beginning a stretch of three goals in 8:08. Pascal scored second for the Hawks during a power play at 6:42, firing a shot that Saint Michael's goaltender Michael Comitni slowed down before the puck trickled in. Merrill sent the Hawks up 3-0 when he blasted home a power-play goal from near the blue line at 10:44. Later in the period, AJ Pieprzak converted a pass from Mark Higgins during a 5-on-3 opportunity to make it 3-1 at 16:00.

Saint Anselm outshot Saint Michael's 17-7 in the second period, but the Purple Knights scored the stanza's lone goal on the power play to climb within one at 3-2.  

The Purple Knights found the equalizer 7:37 into the third period as Pieprzak dropped a pass into the slot, where Jeremy Wong sent a shot that Dries appeared to stop, but Pieprzak was behind the goalie to knock in the tying marker. The Hawks persevered to the end, however, as Kerrigan began the rally, converting on an odd-man rush with 5:51 to go, followed by a Daniels empty-netter with 1:40 left and Vanous' power-play goal with 1:12 remaining

The Hawks return to action Wednesday, Dec. 4 when they play host to Assumption in a 7 p.m. puck-drop at Sullivan Arena. 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).