MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team fell by a 3-2 score in overtime to Queen City Cup rival Southern New Hampshire University in Saturday's regular season finale.

The Hawks enter the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs with a 13-11-2 record overall and a 10-6-2 mark against the league. The Penmen improve to 16-7-0 and 14-4-0 in NE10 play. Saint Anselm awaits the remaining regular season contests before finding out who they will host in the First Round of the NE10 Tournament, which will be played on Saturday, Feb. 26.

Saint Anselm honored its six senior student-athletes and two senior managers in a pregame ceremony. Alex Daccord (North Andover, Mass.), Kilian Hammersmith (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), Sean Healy (Quincy, Mass.), Trevor Hott (Idaho Falls, Idaho), Anthony Iacullo (Barrington, Ill.), and Kevin Ouellette (Arlington, Mass.) were joined by Liam Barnicle and Sean Costello, bringing the Senior Day celebration to eight student in total.

George Thurston netted the game-winning goal at 1:24 of the overtime period. He collected a pass from Phil Heisse on the doorstep and lifted a backhand shot into the upper right corner of the goal, beating junior net minder Nick Howard (Burlington, Mass.).

Earlier in the contest, Hott collected a pass at the blue line from junior Andrew Andary (Macomb, Mich.). Hott fired a wrist shot from the point, beating Penmen goaltender Adam Mercer in the upper half of the goal for his first career marker at 13:58 of the opening stanza.

Andary would cash in on a rebound chance at 17:35, scoring his 17th goal of the season which gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead. Junior Mark Leach (Londonderry, N.H.) intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and drove through the neutral zone, finding sophomore Tommy Schwartz (Ridgefield, Conn.) just inside the attacking line. Schwartz fired a shot on Mercer which caromed into the air and behind the Southern New Hampshire goaltender. The puck landed in the blue paint where Andary was able to clean up the play, giving Saint Anselm a 2-0 lead through the first period of action.

Thurston got the visitors on the board at 10:52 of the second frame. Jake Cox forced a turnover deep in the Hawks defensive zone with Matt Amante finding Thurston in the slot and burying a shot into the
near empty net following an aggressive clearance attempt by Howard.

Southern New Hampshire tied the score at 12:53 of the third period as Joseph Fiorino fired a wrist shot from the top of the slot by Howard on the power play.

The Hawks did earn a five-minute power play late in the third period and junior Chris Lemay (Salem, N.H.) nearly regained the Hawks lead but his shot rang off the crossbar.

Saint Anselm was scoreless on seven power play opportunities while Southern New Hampshire was one for three with the man advantage.

Howard stopped 22 of 25 shots on goal for the Hawks while Mercer made 38 of 40 saves for the Penmen.