MANCHESTER, N.H. – After finishing with an 11-7-2 record in Northeast 10 Conference play, the Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team earned the No. 3 seed and a home game in the NE10 First Round. The Hawks will host cross-town rival, sixth-seeded Southern New Hampshire University, on Tuesday, Feb. 24, with puck drop set for 6:00 p.m. at Sullivan Arena.
In his eighth year at the helm, head coach Larry Rocha '79 has led the Hawks back to the NE10 postseason for the sixth time and looks to lead the squad to its first championship since the 2022-23 season. Earlier this season, Rocha became the third coach in program history to reach the 100-wins milestone and currently holds a 103-89-17 record ahead of tournament play.
After starting winless through the first five games of the campaign, Saint Anselm's first win of the season came in a 9-1 win on the road Southern New Hampshire on Nov. 15. The Hawks were 2-7-2 following the Bowdoin-Colby Thanksgiving Classic (Nov. 29-30) and capped off the fall semester with a 4-2 win at Sullivan Arena over the eventual NE10 regular-season champions, Assumption University on Dec. 2.
The Hawks began their second-semester state winless through five games, including two ties, but again bounced back with a home sweep of Post University on home ice. Saint Anselm carried this momentum into a non-league game with Framingham State University (Jan. 20) in which the team posted its second-highest goal total of the season in an 8-4 victory on home ice.
After dropping game one of a road NE10 series at Saint Michael's College (Jan. 23), the Hawks responded the following day with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory as Saint Anselm scored three goals in the final 1:18 of the third period to salvage the split.
Saint Anselm and SNHU met again, this time at Sullivan Arena, for a pair Queen City Cup clashes (Jan. 30-31) with each team taking three points. The Hawks then outscored Franklin Pierce University, 11-2, over a series sweep at home on Feb. 6 and 7 to nab six points in the NE10 standings late in the season.
The Hawks wrapped up their campaign with a pair of splits, starting with a series at Assumption (Feb. 13-14), and ending with Post (Feb. 20-21). In the regular-season finale, which also served as Senior Day, seniors John Myers and Garrett Alberti each scored over a span of 32 seconds to erase a one-goal deficit and earn a 2-1 victory in front of their home crowd. Senior goaltender Tucker Hanson made 24 stops in goal in his first victory of the season.
Senior Cam Collins, a semifinalist for the Joe Concannon Award, given to the best American-born player in Division II/III, leads the Hawks in points with 30 on the season, with a team-high 22 assists. Fellow senior and team captain Luke Linart has posted 27 points (12-15-27), with a team-high five power play goals to his credit. Freshman Sean Connolly has made a major impact in his first collegiate season, racking up 20 points (7-13-20), with an on-ice rating of +6 and 28 blocked shots, both second best on the team. In goal, junior Cam Carroll has been the primary starter with 21 games played to his credit. He posted a .905 save percentage with a 2.65 goals against average in the regular season.
The winner of Tuesday night's contest will move on to face Saint Michael's in the NE10 Semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 28, with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop scheduled at Cairns Arena.
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