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MANCHESTER, N.H. – Freshman Easton Miller (Mission Viejo, Calif.) and sophomore Vin D'Amato (Sutton, Mass.) tallied their first career goals and freshman Shane Joyce (Pembroke, Mass.) recorded his first career shutout in goal as the Saint Anselm men's hockey team skated past Granite State rival New England College, 4-0, at Sullivan Arena Friday night.
The important victory improved Saint Anselm's overall mark to 3-5-1 overall and 3-3-1 in Eastern College Athletic Conference East play, while the Pilgrims dropped to 3-5-1 overall and 2-5 in the ECAC East.
The Hawks, which have suffered some offensive struggles as of late, took control of the puck midway through the first period. Senior forward Johnny Daniels (Andover, Mass.) rung up the game-opening power play tally on a rebound off a shot by junior Bryan Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.). Pilgrim goaltender Sebastian Andersson, who slid across the crease to chase Sullivan's carom, was caught out of position for Daniels to slap it home right post. Joey Agliato (Hauppage, N.Y.) was also awarded a secondary assist on the play—his third of the season.
Much like they have over the last four games, the Hawks outshot New England 22-11 in the first period alone, and would finish the game with a 15-shot advantage. Yet unlike the recent four-game stretch, Daniels' put-away seemed to open the floodgates entering the second period.
Miller scored his first career goal early in the second stanza, also on a power play opportunity. After his first attempt was blocked by a Pilgrim defender, he re-wound up and fired a deep strike straight-on from beyond the circles through heavy traffic right post to surge the Hawks to a 2-0 lead.
Saint Anselm made it 3-0 on the first career goal from D'Amato, who just caught a piece of a high strike off the stick of sophomore Lonnie Taylor (Raymond, Maine). Taylor sent the puck high into the zone from outside the left faceoff circle, where D'Amato redirected the puck just over the glove of Andersson.
Facing an empty net with a minute remaining, sophomore Brendon Kerrigan (Boston, Mass.) stole an outlet pass from the Pilgrim defenseman near the blue line and wristed home an unassisted tally—also his first of the season—to close out the scoring.
Defensively, the Hawks locked down in the third period and made things difficult for New England to put any threats near the zone. Joyce tallied 29 saves Friday night en route to his first career shutout between the pipes. He also improved his season record to 3-3-1 overall.
For the first time this season, Saint Anselm scored on multiple power play opportunities, as Daniels' and Miller's goals both came with a man advantage. The Hawks went 2-for-4 in that category while holding the Pilgrims scoreless on their five chances.
Saint Anselm will finish off its 2014 calendar year back at Sullivan Arena Tuesday evening, hosting another intrastate rival in Franklin Pierce. The puck will drop on that Northeast-10 Conference matchup at 7 p.m.
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