MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team advancing to its league-best 18th Northeast-10 Conference Championship game on Saturday after downing in-state foe, Franklin Pierce University, by a 5-0 score.

The top-seeded Hawks matched a program record for wins in a single season at 20, moving to 20-10-3 on the season. The fifth-seeded Ravens see their season come to a close at 11-20-2. Saint Anselm will meet Saint Michael's College, the second-seed, in the NE10 Championship game which will be played at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 4 in the friendly confines of Sullivan Arena.

Senior goaltender Nick Howard (Burlington, Mass.) moved into a tie for first all-time in career wins at 37, joining Tom Gavin '75 and Jim Merola '05 for the top spot in program history.

Senior co-captain Matt Hayes (Salem, N.H.) had a hand in four of the Hawks five goals, scoring two and assisting on two others. Senior co-captain Andrew Andary (Macomb, Mich.) followed closely with one goal and two assists while junior Liam Lyons (Gloucester, Mass.) and freshman Garrett Alberti (Wilmington, Mass.) potted one goal apiece.

Hayes netted the first goal of the game just 3:21 into the contest as he cashed in on a rebound chance, following a shot from junior co-alternate captain Tommy Schwartz (Ridgefield, Conn.).

Andary added to the Saint Anselm advantage with a power play goal at 11:29 of the second period. Andary collected a pass from Hayes and walked out of the right corner to the faceoff dot and would fire a snap shot through traffic to beat Kyle Martin, the Franklin Pierce goaltender.

Alberti gave the Hawks a 3-0 lead at 15:56 of the second period. The freshman quickly roofed a shot over Martin off a feed from Andary for his fourth goal of the season.

The Ravens nearly broke through on the scoreboard in the early moments of the third period as a shot from Anthony Nikolopoulos beat Howard but rang off the crossbar.

The squads battled back-and-forth throughout the third period but with time winding down, the Ravens were forced to pull Martin to opt for the extra skater in search of three goals.

The Hawks would ice the game with an empty-net goal at 17:42 by Lyons before Hayes tacked on a second empty netter at 19:31, pushing the score to its eventual final of 5-0.

Howard turned aside all 33 shots on goal he faced, including 14 in the third period alone. The Hawks put 50 shots on target with Martin stopping 45 of the 48 he was in the goal for.

Saint Anselm netted one goal in the three power play chances while the Ravens were scoreless in their three opportunities.