WORCESTER, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey squad fell to the Greyhounds of Assumption College, 4-1, in Northeast-10 Conference action on Saturday night at Charles J. Buffone Arena.
Box Score
The Hawks are without a win in their last four games, dropping to 11-10-2 overall and 6-5-2 in NE10 play. The Greyhounds stay in second place in the conference standings, improving to 9-3-2 against NE10 opponents. Assumption is now 12-7-4 through 23 overall games. The Greyhounds captured just their eighth win over the Hawks in program history.
Three straight goals from the Greyhounds in the first two periods was too much for the Hawks to come back from, falling for the third time in February.
The hosts applied most of the pressure throughout the opening stanza as they led 10-5 on shots with seven minutes left. Assumption got on the board first at 16:18 as Dante Maribito fired a shot that ricocheted to the open Brendan Philippon, who scored the goal. Following a John Fine-Lease cross-checking penalty, the Hawks looked to take momentum but turned the puck over at neutral ice. Maribito picked up the loose puck and netted the short-handed goal at 18:06 to give the Greyhounds a 2-0 lead.
Philippon capitalized on a power-play opportunity at 18:37 of the second period, helping the Greyhounds pull away for a 3-0 cushion. Less than a minute later, junior Matt Chisholm (Scituate, Mass.) cut the deficit back to a two-goal margin with a tally of his own.
Saint Anselm nearly made it a one-goal game as sophomore Kilian Hammersmith (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) fired a one-timer off the pipe at 5:04 of the third period. A few minutes later, Maribito clinched the victory for the Greyhounds with his second tally of the day at 7:26 of the final stanza.
The Greyhounds killed off all six Hawks power-play opportunities while Saint Anselm held the hosts scoreless in six of the eight man-up chances. Assumption finished with a slim 34-32 shots advantage.
In net, sophomore Michal Soustal (Unicov, Czech Republic) recorded 30 saves en route to the loss. Assumption's David Altman registered his sixth win of the season, stopping 31 shots. Senior Mike Ferraro (Northbridge, Mass.) recorded his 100th game played at Saint Anselm, joining his fellow classmates Trey Aiello (Williamsburg, Va.) and Dave Almeida (Bristol, R.I.) with 100 or more appearances in their careers.
Saint Anselm returns to action on Tuesday, Feb. 11 when it hosts Stonehill College at Lawler Arena on the campus of Merrimack College. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
