Courtesy St. Michael’s Sports Information
SOUTH BURLINGTON — The Saint Michael’s College men’s ice hockey team rallied from a two-goal deficit to down Saint Anselm College by a 5-4 count for the second straight day on Sunday during Northeast-10 Conference play in Cairns Arena. The second-place Purple Knights exit the weekend one point short of Assumption College for the NE10 lead with four regular-season games to play.
RECORDS
· Saint Michael’s (12-8-2, 8-5-1 NE10), Saint Anselm (11-9-2, 6-4-2 NE10)
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
· Junior Tyler Dorval (Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool), 1 goal, 1 assist, +2
· First-year Matt Schreiner (Falmouth, Mass./Walpole Express), 1 goal, 1 assist, 10-for-21 faceoffs
· Junior Niall Foster (Newmarket, N.H./Walpole Express), 2 assists, 15-for-22 faceoffs
· Junior Paul Cerdà (Puigcerdà, Catalunya/Buffalo State), 1 goal
· Junior Ethan Hendrickson (Budd Lake, N.J./New Jersey Rockets), 1 goal, +2
· Junior Zach Sullivan (Weymouth, Mass./Walpole Express), 1 goal
· Junior Thomas Flack (Toronto, Ontario/Saint Michael’s Buzzers), 1 assist, 12-for-23 faceoffs
· Senior Tim Decker (Liverpool, N.Y./Canterbury School), 37 saves
· Senior Hadan Jordan (Colorado Springs, Colo./Boston Bandits), 3 blocks
OPPONENT LEADERS
· First-year Andrew Andary, 2 goals
· Senior Liam O’Sullivan, 2 assists
· Sophomore Kilian Hammersmith, 2 assists
· Sophomore Anthony Iacullo, 2 assists
· Senior Mike Ferraro, 1 goal
· Senior Jake Grade, 1 goal
· First-year Nick Howard, 29 saves
GAME FACTS
· The last 10 games between the Purple Knights and Hawks have been decided by three goals or less, with five of the past seven being one-goal affairs. Saint Michael’s captured the regular-season series, 2-1, as each game was a one-goal contest.
· Sullivan became the 21st different Saint Michael’s goal scorer this season. The Purple and Gold last had more in a season when 22 players tallied in 2010-11.
· Saint Michael’s erased a two-goal deficit to win for the fourth time in 10 games after not doing so previously since Feb. 24, 2018, having turned the feat on back-to-back days. Four of the Purple Knights’ six wins this semesters have been two-goal comebacks.
· The Purple Knights received goals from all four of its lines, while the junior class combined for four goals and five assists.
· Saint Michael’s moved to 9-3-2 in games decided by one goal or less this season, with five of their six wins in the second semester coming by a single tally.
· Saint Anselm entered the weekend having allowed five goals only twice in the prior 27 games dating back to last season while toting a league-leading 2.65 defensive scoring average. The Hawks had last allowed five goals in back-to-back NE10 games on Jan. 9 and Feb. 2, 2008, against Franklin Pierce University and the Purple Knights.
· After Saint Michael’s entered the weekend one point short of the Hawks for third place in the NE10, the Purple and Gold upped its point total to 17 to claim second place, only one short of leader Assumption College. In a tight field where the top six are separated by seven points, Saint Anselm is third (14), Franklin Pierce and Southern New Hampshire University are tied for fifth (12), and Stonehill College is sixth (11).
· Saint Anselm had been 4-0-1 in its last five games entering the weekend.
· Cerdà netted one goal in his first 50 games between two years at Buffalo State College and his first season at Saint Michael’s before scoring twice in the two games against Saint Anselm.
· Decker moved alone into fourth in program history with his 24th career win.
THE ACTION
· All of the scoring in the first period took place in a 5:55 span over the latter half of the stanza.
· Grade cracked the deadlock by blasting a shot over Decker’s shoulder from the blue line at 10:42, and Andary doubled the lead 1:10 later, putting home a rebound at the left side of the net off of Iacullo’s saved shot.
· Saint Michael’s halved the deficit during a power play, as Schreiner poked in a pass from Foster near the left post with 13:24 gone. Cerdà found the equalizer at 16:37 with a wraparound at the right post.
· Decker made a pair of tough saves early in the second period, denying Ferraro’s point-blank bid from the right circle off of a giveaway with 2:20 gone before saving junior Matt Chisholm’s shot a minute later and falling on a bouncing puck around the crease.
· Andary put home his second goal of the game at 8:51 during a power play, tipping in Iacullo’s centering pass five-hole on Decker to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead.
· Decker kept it a one-goal game by denying a 2-on-1 chance at 17:29, stopping senior Trey Aiello’s one-timer out front with his mask after senior Sean Verrier’s cross-ice pass.
· While looking to tie, Schreiner rung the crossbar from a tough angle with Howard out of position at 18:15 during an odd-man rush, but the Purple Knights scored twice in the final minute to take the lead for good.
· Foster’s bid from the left circle was stopped by the netminder before Sullivan knocked in the rebound from the low slot with 45.7 seconds to go, tying the game. Just 15 seconds later, Dorval tipped home Flack’s pass from the slot near the right post to give Saint Michael’s a 4-3 edge heading into the third period.
· Decker denied Chisholm with a glove save during a breakout at 2:31 of the third period, and Howard responded with a toe save of Dorval’s tip from out front at the six-minute mark.
· During the same possession, the Purple Knights nabbed a 5-3 lead, as Dorval’s one-timer from the slot was stopped, Schreiner touched the puck to the goal line at the left post under pressure from a Hawk skater, and Hendrickson finally batted in the still puck at 6:11.
· Saint Anselm went on a power play in the final minutes, and Ferraro picked the upper right corner from the left circle to draw the visitors within a goal at 16:09.
· Iacullo nearly knotted the game at 18:25, slipping a shot from out wide through Decker’s legs, but the puck slipped untouched through the crease and away from danger.
· With a Hawk in the box, Saint Anselm pulled Howard with 1:16 to go, putting the teams at 5-on-5. Ferraro sent a shot from the left circle that Decker denied with 42.9 seconds remaining before not allowing any follow-up during a scrum out front.
· That proved to be the final shot of the game, as a Purple Knight penalty with 10 seconds left gave the Hawks a 5-on-4 advantage, but Foster won the ensuing faceoff and later blocked a shot before the puck was cleared toward the Saint Anselm zone as the buzzer sounded.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
· Friday at Southern New Hampshire, 7:20 p.m.