GORHAM, Maine – Senior Sean Jenkins (Boston, Mass.) scored an early goal for the Saint Anselm men's hockey team, but the host Huskies of Southern Maine notched a goal in each of the final two periods to steal away a 2-1 victory over the Hawks Saturday afternoon at USM Ice Arena.

The loss drops the Hawks to 5-7-1 overall and back to .500 in the league standings at 4-4-1 in the ECAC East. It was the first league victory of the year for the Huskies, who improved to 3-11 overall and 1-8 in ECAC East play.

Both teams mirrored each other in several statistical categories, with Saint Anselm narrowly outshooting the Huskies for the game, 22-20. Yet despite holding the Huskies to a scoreless 0-for-3 on power play opportunities, Saint Anselm was again plagued with time in the penalty box, serving 20 minutes on nine whistles compared to just nine minutes on three infractions for USM.

Jenkins' goal came just three minutes into the game as he took a pass from junior and fellow team captain Bryan Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.), beating USM freshman goaltender Kyle Shapiro.

Southern Maine's Stephen Gallo evened the score in the second period, beating Hawk freshman goaltender Shane Joyce (Pembroke, Mass.) 15 minutes into the session. The Huskies' Alex Pantalone then broke the tie for good at the 13:35 mark of the third period, sending a shoulder-high flip shot that Joyce couldn't find until the goal siren sounded.

Shapiro would effectively shut down the Hawks the rest of the day en route to a game-high 21 saves. Joyce took the loss Saturday, falling to 5-4-1 on the year while picking up 18 saves.

Saint Anselm will return to the friendly confines of Sullivan Arena for a Tuesday night non-conference battle against Connecticut College. Game time against the Camels is slated for 7 p.m.

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