WINCHENDON, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team fell to Franklin Pierce University in Northeast-10 Conference play on Tuesday night by a 5-3 score.

The Hawks fall to 4-5-1 on the season with a 1-2-1 mark in NE10 contests. Franklin Pierce sees its record stand at 4-8 after earning just the team's first win in league play in five chances.

Saint Anselm opened the season without a loss through the first five games (4-0-1), but since then have logged five consecutive losses, allowing at least four goals in each of those contests.

Neither team found twine in the opening 20 minutes of play as the Hawks held a 13-2 advantage in shots on goal. Saint Anselm had one power play opportunity, firing one shot on goal with the extra skater.

Senior co-captain Kilian Hammersmith (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) opened the scoring at 4:04 of the second stanza. Hammersmith set up a breakout pass from the Saint Anselm defensive end and worked a three-on-two with juniors Andrew Andary (Macomb, Mich.) and Matt Hayes (Salem, N.H.). Hammersmith crashed the net and cashed in on a cross-ice pass for his second tally of the season.

Senior Anthony Iacullo (Barrington, Ill.) had a golden chance to double the lead with a shorthanded breakaway, but his attempt was turned aside.

The Ravens knotted the score on the power play with a one-time shot from the point by David Cambria at 12:27 of the period.

The Hawks answered back less than one minute later as freshman Luke Mix (Winchester, Mass.) sent a backhand shot by Ravens goaltender Ian Wallace for his first career goal, giving Saint Anselm a 2-1 edge.

Chris Stevenson capitalized on a pass from below the goal line to tie the contest once again at 15:10 of the second period.

Through two periods of play, both teams found the back of the net twice but the Hawks fired 24 shots on goal to 15 for the Ravens.

During a five-minute penalty kill, Hayes gained enough clearance from the Ravens defense but he was hooked on the breakaway, giving the Hawks a penalty shot. However, Hayes' penalty shot attempt was saved by Wallace at 8:00 of the final regulation period.

Franklin Pierce captured its first lead of the contest at 13:36 on a five-on-three power play as Cody Rumsey capped off a cross-crease pass from Ryan Gorbett.

Saint Anselm went on the power play with 1:59 remaining in the third period and was forced to pull junior goaltender Nick Howard (Burlington, Mass.). With Howard out, Conor Foley gave the Ravens a 4-2 lead with an empty net goal.

Hammersmith quickly cut the deficit to one with under a minute to play but another Foley empty-netter sealed a 5-3 victory for the hosts.

Franklin Pierce netted two power play goals in six opportunities while Saint Anselm was scoreless on its three chances.

Howard stopped 26 of 29 shots on goal in the net for the Hawks while Wallace made 27 saves on 30 shots in the winning effort.

Saint Anselm is back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 4 at Saint Michael's College in its first contest of the 2022 calendar year.