Box Score

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team picked up their first win since January 22 with a 5-2 victory over Assumption College on Tuesday night in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Sullivan Arena in Manchester, N.H.

The Hawks improve to 11-9-3 overall and 4-1-0 in the NE-10, while Assumption drops to 8-11-4 and 2-6-1 in conference games.

In a pregame ceremony, the Saint Anselm hockey program honored their three seniors in Mark Meads (Middleton, Mass.), Bryan Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.), and Tyler Estee (Bow, N.H.) for their contributions to Saint Anselm and its athletic department.

The Hawks opened the scoring only 2:54 into the first period as Tyler Estee ripped a slap shot from the left point that was stopped by Assumption's Chris Hemhauser. The rebound fell to Mark Meads who tried to stuff home the shot but Hemhauser turned him away. Nick Leonard (Methuen, Mass.) had the next chance at a rebound and he flicked the puck over the pad to give Saint Anselm the early 1-0 lead.

The senior class struck again just under seven minutes later as Bryan Sullivan intercepted a pass at center ice and skated in on the Assumption defense. Mark Meads raced up the right side and Sullivan slipped him a pass that he one-timed into the back of the net for the two-goal advantage.

The Greyhounds had their chances in the final seven minutes of the period, but Shane Joyce (Pembroke, Mass.) was up to the task. Joyce stoned Kevin Murphy and Alex Erban on 1-on-1 chances late in the first period. With only 2:25 to play, Assumption skated in on a 3-on-1 advantage. Brad Anderson took the first shot on Joyce, which he kicked away, and Nick Fenuccio had a chance on goal but Joyce scrambled back to his line and stopped the shot before covering up the puck.

Saint Anselm opened the second period on a power play and took advantage of the extra skater as Leonard struck again. Estee played a puck from the blue line down to Mark Meads. Meads passed to a wide open Leonard in the slot, who buried the shot for the 3-0 lead.

The Hawks made it a 4-0 game less than two minutes later as Justin Longo (Wakefield, Mass.) moved the puck over to Lawrence Taylor (Raymond, Maine), whose shot was stopped by Hemhauser. The rebound came out to Jon Pallotta (Leominster, Mass.) and the sophomore buried his third goal in the last two games, chasing Hemhauser from the contest.

Saint Anselm wasted no time testing the new keeper Nick Commesso as they scored only 2:34 into the period to take a 5-0 lead. Bryan Sullivan played a puck from behind his own goal and over to Patrick Horrocks (Braintree, Mass.). Horrocks skated through the Greyhounds' defense and dropped a pass to Kevin Dazkevich (West Hartford, Conn.) and he found the back of the net with a wrist shot from just outside the right face-off circle.

Assumption got one back exactly four minutes later when Matt Damelio crashed into the boards to keep the puck in the Saint Anselm end and got a pass over to Ryan Gomez. Gomez played a pass in front to a charging Brian Farrell and the sophomore went top shelf to beat Joyce.

Just over three minutes later, the Greyhounds added one more as Alex Erban tried a wraparound shot that caromed out to Kevin Murphy, who potted a goal on the open net to make it a 5-2 game.

That would be all the offense either team would muster the rest of the game as the Hawks held on for the 5-2 victory. Saint Anselm held a 35-24 advantage in shots for the night, and went 1-for-3 on the power play while killing the lone power play they faced.

Shane Joyce picked up his ninth win of the season while stopping 22-of24 shots on the night. Chris Hemhauser took the loss for the Greyhounds; making 12-of-16 saves in 21:58 of ice time, while Nick Commesso stopped 18-of-19 shots in 37:27.

The Hawks return to action this weekend when they travel to #8/9 Babson College for a 7:00 p.m. matchup on Friday night before taking on #9/10 UMass Boston on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

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.