SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team grabbed a 3-2 win over Saint Michael's College in Saturday's Northeast-10 Conference contest.
With the win, the Hawks improve to 5-2-1 on the season and 4-2-1 in NE10 play while the Purple Knights fall to 3-4-1 overall and 2-3-1. Saint Anselm will head to Rutland, Vt. to battle Buffalo State in the first round of the Castleton University Tournament on Friday, Nov. 25.
Senior
Matt Hayes (Salem, N.H.) had a hand in all three Saint Anselm goals, recording two goals and an assist in the win. Sophomore
Mark Blaney (Braintree, Mass.) netted the other Hawks goal in the tilt.
Blaney tallied his third goal of the 2022-23 season to open the scoring at 4:39 of the second period. Hayes collected a loose puck and sent a cross-ice pass for junior
Tommy Schwartz (Ridgefield, Conn.). However, the puck deflected off Schwartz and stopped for a crashing Blaney who capitalized on the chance, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Saint Michael's had a great scoring chance on a shot by
Owen Rudicus at 9:27 of the second period but a desperation paddle save by senior goaltender
Nick Howard (Burlington, Mass.) kept the Hawks in front.
Zach Taylor got the Purple Knights on the scoreboard when he collected a pass in the slot and managed to beat Howard on the backhand with 9:48 left in the middle frame, tying the score at one.
The Purple Knights took a 2-1 lead to the second intermission after
Jake Lincourt found the back of the net at 16:39 of the period. Lincourt redirected a pass from
Ashton Allain into the upper right of the goal
for the second Saint Michael's goal of the contest.
Hayes would knot the score at two just 19 seconds into the third period after forcing a turnover in the Saint Michael's zone, Hayes would load up a snap shot and fire it into the upper left of the goal.
The Hawks took a 3-2 lead on Hayes' second goal and third point of the contest at 7:14 of the third on the power play. Hayes one-timed a shot from the top of the slot off a feed from senior
Jack Murphy (Marshfield, Mass.) to regain the Saint Anselm lead.
Saint Anselm held a 36-32 advantage in shots on goal while Saint Michael's won 43 of the game's 73 faceoffs. The Hawks netted one power play goal in four chances while the Purple Knights were scoreless
in five opportunities.
Howard turned aside 30 shots on goal while his counterpart,
Marshall Murphy, stopped 33 of 36 shots on target for Saint Michael's.
