MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team suffered a 3-0 defeat to crosstown rival Southern New Hampshire University on Friday.

The Hawks see their five-game unbeaten streak come to an end and fall to 7-3-1 on the season with a 4-3-1 record in Northeast-10 Conference play. The Penmen improve to 5-7-0 overall and 4-4-0 in NE10 tilts. The squads will conclude their two-game set on Saturday, Dec. 3 from Sullivan Arena with the opening puck drop slated for 4 p.m.

Senior Nick Howard (Burlington, Mass.) made 30 saves in the contest and is now 13th all-time in men's ice hockey program history with 1,368 total stops, surpassing Colin Soucy '19.

Senior co-captain Matt Hayes (Salem, N.H.) won a game-high 22 faceoffs as the Hawks, as a squad, won 44 of 66 in the contest. Hayes was tied for the team lead with junior alternate captain Tommy Schwartz (Ridgefield, Conn.) and sophomore Hunter Brackett (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at three shots apiece.

The Penmen jumped on the scoreboard first in the opening stanza as Connor Ball fired a shot that was blocked by senior Mark Leach (Londonderry, N.H.). However, Ball collected the carom and sent a shot into the upper half of the goal to give Southern New Hampshire a 1-0 lead at the 2:02 mark.

The Hawks had a great chance to equalize the score around three minutes later as junior Liam Lyons (Gloucester, Mass.) redirected a cross-ice pass from classmate Jac Cordeiro (Barnstable, Mass.) but the shot attempt went just wide.

Southern New Hampshire doubled its lead at 6:06 of the third period. Matt Amante cleaned up a rebound following a Howard save on a point shot by Tim Usalis.

Saint Anselm had a pair of strong scoring chances to beat the Penmen netminder Adam Mercer in the middle of the third period. Freshman Luke Linart (Holland, Mich.) sent a shot that was blocked by the defense but the rebound just snuck by the right post and freshman Garrett Alberti (Wilmington, Mass.) had a turnaround chance from the slot that Mercer turned aside with a toe save.

The Penmen would strike again at 15:37 of the frame with a power play goal as James Nash managed to drive in toward the goal and make a strong move to the forehand to capitalize on the chance and extend the visitors lead to three.

Junior Will Christensen (Ridgefield, Conn.) would beat Mercer with about 1:15 left to play in the third period but his shot attempt rang off the post as the Penmen would hold on to take the 3-0 win.

Southern New Hampshire held a 33-23 edge in shots on goal in the contest and were one-for-three on the power play while the Hawks were scoreless in their four chances. Saint Anselm blocked 13 Penmen shots and were led by Leach and freshman Tim Duffy (Sudbury, Mass.) with three blocks each.