GORHAM, Maine – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team dropped its non-conference contest to the University of Southern Maine by a 6-4 score on Friday.

The Hawks fall to 4-4-1 overall while the Huskies improve to 3-6-1. Saint Anselm returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 14 when the Hawks head to Rindge, N.H. to take on in-state foe, Franklin Pierce University.

Saint Anselm had four goal scorers in the loss as sophomores Tommy Schwartz (Ridgefield, Conn.) and Will Christensen (Ridgefield, Conn.) joined freshman Mark Blaney (Braintree, Mass.) and junior Mark Leach (Londonderry, N.H.) on the scoresheet. Blaney and Leach scored their first collegiate goals on Friday.

The Huskies opened the scoring at 12:38 of the opening frame as Bobby Kinsey managed to beat Hawks goaltender Nick Howard (Burlington, Mass.). The Hawks fired 12 shots on goal compared to just seven by Southern Maine through 20 minutes of play.

Saint Anselm found its equalizer at 9:41 of the second period as Schwartz netted his fifth goal of the season when he rifled a shot over the shoulder of Huskies netminder Mason Palmer.

After killing off three consecutive penalties, the Huskies regained the lead on the power play at 18:01. Southern Maine won the offensive zone face-off back to Cole Ouellette, who sent a past to the left post for Austin Marini's redirection.

Southern Maine added two more goals before the closing of the second period as the Huskies took a 4-1 lead to the second intermission. Zach Desmarais and Nick Ritmo put home the goals at 18:20 and 19:51, respectively. The Huskies were two-for-seven on the power play through 40 minutes while the Hawks held a 24-18 advantage in shots on goal.

Blaney netted his first collegiate goal just 50 seconds into the third stanza as he collected a cross-ice pass from junior Andrew Andary (Macomb, Mich.) and quickly wristed a shot from the top of the slot to push the score to 4-2.

The Hawks went to the power play at 9:20 of the period and quickly cut the deficit to one as Leach fired home his first collegiate goal using just eight seconds of the man advantage. Leach fired a snap shot from the blue line that beat Palmer on the right side of the net.

Southern Maine re-established its two goal lead at 12:55 as Desmarais found the net for the second time before claiming a 6-3 edge on an empty net goal with under a minute to play. The Hawks attempted a final minute comeback as Christensen scored the fourth Saint Anselm goal with just 32 seconds remaining.

The Huskies posted three power play goals on nine opportunities compared to two-for-seven for the Hawks. Saint Anselm won 43-of-65 face-offs in the contest.

Howard made 24 saves in the losing effort while Palmer turned aside 41 out of the 45 shots on goal from the Hawks.