MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sophomore Bryan Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.) and freshman Peter Sikalis (Acton, Mass.) each scored a pair of goals to power the Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team to a 5-1 victory against New England College on Friday evening in the regular-season home finale at Thomas F. Sullivan Arena.
The Hawks win for the fourth time in five games to improve to 9-9-4 on the season, including 5-7-4 in ECAC East play, while the Pilgrims dip to 14-7-1, 10-6-0 ECAC East.
NEC grabbed the game's first goal when Ben Maclaughlin sent two shots on net from the slot that were stopped by Saint Anselm senior goaltender Nick Dries (Commerce Township, Mich.), but Maclaughlin collected the second rebound and put it in at the left post to make it 1-0 with 8:08 remaining in the first period.
Saint Anselm gained the equalizer with 3:03 to play in the middle stanza as Sullivan won the faceoff at the left dot and immediately put a shot on net that deflected off the skate of an NEC defender and into the net to tie it at one.
The Hawks then erupted for four goals in the third period. Sikalis started it 4:09 in when he won the puck off the right boards at center ice, skated into the offensive zone and wristed the puck 5-hole from the low right circle.
Senior Joe Tebano (Glastonbury, Conn.) stretched the lead to two just 1:18 later when junior Sean Jenkins (Boston, Mass.) received a feed at the bottom of the right circle from classmate Ryan Donovan (Bridgewater, Mass.) behind the net and then snapped a pass into the slot for Tebano, who beat NEC netminder Sebastian Andersson to make it 3-1.
Sikalis earned his second of the night at the 9:22 mark after initially beginning the sequence when he directed a pass from his defensive zone to junior Joey Agliato (Hauppage, N.Y.) in the neutral zone. Agliato carried it over the offensive blue line up the left boards and passed back to Sikalis, who collected the puck in the slot and again beat Andersson 5-hole to widen the margin to three.
Sullivan matched that with his second of the contest with just 2:29 left on great individual efforts by he and Tebano. Tebano skated through a handful of defenders as he carried the puck up the right boards and then absorbed a big hit in the right circle as he shoveled a backhand on net that was stopped by Andersson. The rebound slid out to Andersson's right, however, and a diving Sullivan knocked it in with his stick as he went skidding on the ice toward the left post.
Dries stopped 27 shots, while Andersson made 36 saves. The Hawks outshot the Pilgrims, 41-29, while both teams were 0-for-2 with the man-advantage.
The Hawks return to action Friday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. when they take on the University of Southern Maine. 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 and following us on Twitter @STAHawks.
