COLCHESTER, Vt. – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team fell to Saint Michael's College by a 3-2 score in Northeast-10 Conference action on Tuesday.

The Hawks fall to 4-6-1 on the season with a 1-3-1 mark in NE10 play. The Purple Knights improve to 2-6-0 overall and 2-2-0 in conference contests. Saint Anselm returns to action on Friday, Jan. 7 against Albertus Magnus from Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Saint Michael's opened the scoring 2:55 into the opening period as Thomas Flack made a quick move around a Hawks defender and drove in on junior goaltender Nick Howard (Burlington, Mass.). Flack deked to his forehand and buried his attempt into the right side of the goal.

Flack doubled the Purple Knights lead at 5:33 of the first period as he cleaned up a rebound on a shot attempt by Alex Dalton.

The best chance to score for the Hawks in the opening frame came when senior Kevin Ouellette (Arlington, Mass.) fired a one-time shot that forced the Purple Knights goaltender, Hugo Turcotte, to slide to his right. Turcotte made the stop to preserve the 2-0 edge.

Saint Anselm jumped on the board at 3:50 of the second stanza, capitalizing on the power play. Senior Jack Murphy (Marshfield, Mass.) managed to fire a wrist shot from the top of the circles on a feed from Ouellette for his third tally of the season.

The Purple Knights had a golden opportunity to regain their two-goal lead as Matt Egan sent a one-time shot from the slot but Howard slid out to the top of the crease to cut the angle and keep the puck out of the goal.

Junior Andrew Andary (Macomb, Mich.) had a strong chance to knot the contest at two as he sent a quick turnaround shot on Turcotte from the slot but the Purple Knights goaltender kicked aside the scoring chance.

Saint Anselm had two power play opportunities in the first 10 minutes of the third period but could not convert with the extra skater.

The Hawks found an equalizer at 14:38 of the period as sophomore Jac Cordeiro (Barnstable, Mass.) netted his first collegiate goal with a backhand shot from the slot, beating Turcotte in the left side of the goal. Freshman Richie Colarusso (Tewksbury, Mass.) recorded his first collegiate point with the primary assist on the play.

With 2:16 left in regulation, Andrew DeCristoforo redirected a shot from Matt Schreiner to give the hosts a 3-2 lead.

The Hawks were forced to pull their goaltender, trying to tie the contest but were unable to find the back of the net in the remaining time.

Saint Anselm put 31 pucks on goal compared to 20 for Saint Michael's. The Hawks found the back of the net once in nine power play chances while the Purple Knights were scoreless on seven opportunities.

Howard made 17 saves in the losing effort while Turcotte stopped 29 of the Hawks 31 shots on goal.