MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior Matt Hayes (Salem, N.H.) scored his second goal of the game with just 19 seconds left in overtime to give the Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team a 4-3 victory in Friday afternoon's Northeast-10 Conference action.
The Hawks improve to 7-9-1 on the season with a 4-4-1 record in NE10 play. The Purple Knights fall to 3-10-0 overall and 3-6-0 against the league. The teams will meet again on Saturday, Jan. 29 with a 1 p.m. opening puck drop from Sullivan Arena.
Hayes led the Hawks with two goals while junior Mark Leach (Londonderry, N.H.) and sophomore Tommy Schwartz (Ridgefield, Conn.) netted one goal each for the Hawks offense. Schwartz and junior alternate captain Andrew Andary (Macomb, Mich.) recorded three points in the contest as Schwartz added two helpers with his goal while Andary finished with a hand in three of the Hawks goals.
Hayes collected a pass from Andary and drove in on goal from the left faceoff dot. Hayes made a quick move to his forehand and buried the game-winning shot attempt.
Earlier in the contest, the Purple Knights jumped on the board just 2:32 into play as Sel Narby sent a pass from below his own goal line and found Tyler Dorval who was waiting at the attacking blue line. Dorval crashed the net on a breakaway and beat junior goaltender Nick Howard (Burlington, Mass.) to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.
Leach responded with his second goal of the season when he finished off a two-on-one with Andary. The teams were skating four aside which opened up room for Leach to crash the net, finishing the play from the right post at 18:49 of the opening stanza.
The Hawks would net the only back-to-back goals of the game and give themselves a 2-1 edge at 7:51 of the second period. Sophomore Will Christensen (Ridgefield, Conn.) won an offensive zone faceoff to Andary who quickly slid a pass to Schwartz. Schwartz fired a quick wrist shot from the top of the slot by Purple Knights goaltender Marshall Murphy for his seventh goal on the season.
Matt Schreiner knotted the score at two after his forced a Hawks turnover. Schreiner knocked down a breakout pass rifled a shot from the slot by Howard just after the midway point of the second period.
Hayes' first goal of the night came at 17:59 of the second frame as he connected with a one-timer, capitalizing on a five-on-three power play for the Hawks. Schwartz and senior Sean Healy (Quincy, Mass.) collected assists on the third Saint Anselm goal of the night which gave the Hawks a 3-2 edge through 40 minutes of play.
The Purple Knights came out of the intermission and tied the contest just 24 seconds into play of the third period. Case Kantigas wristed the opening shot of the period into the upper half of the goal, connecting on the power play and tying the tilt at three.
Howard made 31 saves on 34 shots on goal in the win, recording his seventh win on the season. Murphy stopped 33 of 37 shots including five in the overtime period alone.
