Courtesy St. Michael’s Sports Information

FOXBORO, MA. — The Saint Michael’s College men’s ice hockey team fell to Stonehill College, 2-1, on Tuesday evening in the Foxboro Sports Center during Northeast-10 Conference play. Despite the loss, the Purple Knights remain second in the league, two points shy of Saint Anselm College.

RECORDS
· Saint Michael’s (9-7-2, 5-4-1 NE10), Stonehill (6-8-2, 3-4-1 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
· First-year Matt Schreiner (Falmouth, Mass./Walpole Express), 1 goal, 5-for-12 faceoffs
· Sophomore Matt Egan (Hingham, Mass./Kimball Union Academy), 1 assist
· First-year Jeremy Routh (Hamden, Conn./New Hampshire Junior Monarchs), 1 assist
· First-year Connor Redden (Southbury, Conn./Team Maryland), 4-for-7 faceoffs
· Senior Tim Decker (Liverpool, N.Y./Canterbury School), 24 saves

OPPONENT LEADERS
· Senior Connor Jewett, 1 goal
· Senior Ryan Meade, 1 goal
· Senior Matthew Schoen, 27 saves

GAME FACTS
· With Franklin Pierce University losing to Assumption College and first-place Saint Anselm College idle, the Purple Knights remained in second place in the Northeast-10 Conference, two points short of Saint Anselm and one point up on Assumption and Southern New Hampshire University.
· Saint Michael’s outshot Stonehill, 28-26. While the teams combined to go 0-for-6 on power plays, the Skyhawks netted both of their goals during visitor power plays. The Purple Knights had not allowed a shorthanded goal in 21 games since also yielding two against Post University last Feb. 9.
· The contest was the first of three meetings between the teams in the next month.
· Since 1995, Saint Michael’s has lost only four times on Stonehill’s ice, with three coming by one goal.
· Routh extended his league lead in assists to 16, tied for the most by a Purple Knight since AJ Pieprzak ’15 had 20 in 2014-15. Erik Caron ’08 was the last Saint Michael’s first-year with as many as 16 helpers, totaling 19 in 2004-05.
· Schreiner has scored all three of his team’s goals in the last two games.

THE ACTION
· The Purple Knights held a 9-7 edge in shots during a scoreless first period, firing the first four shots on goal before Stonehill went on the man advantage for four minutes of a 4:13 span during the first half of the frame. Decker was only forced into making three saves in that time, as four Purple Knight skaters combined to block five shots. Junior Paul McAuliffe (Newton, Mass./Kimball Union Academy) had two himself.
· The teams traded goals during the second period, with Jewett first putting home a shorthanded tally at 3:56 shortly after Routh’s shot from out front went wide of the net. Routh followed his own rebound out toward the Stonehill blue line, where junior Kayser Raei forced a turnover, sped during an odd-man rush into the Saint Michael’s left circle, and passed to Jewett for a backdoor 2-on-3 tally.
· Saint Michael’s got the goal back 6:33 later when Schreiner found the equalizer off of assists from Egan and Routh. After a faceoff in the Purple Knight zone, Routh carried from zone to zone, dishing to the left circle for Egan, whose cross-crease pass was tapped in at the right post by Schreiner.
· Saint Michael’s went on the power play 3:56 into the third period while looking to break the tie, but Stonehill fired the first two shots, including as junior Jared McCracken was denied by Decker on a breakaway at 4:24. Raei came up with two blocks of junior Sel Narby (Huntington, N.Y./Connecticut Junior Rangers) soon thereafter, and senior Jack Scannell picked up a loose puck near his own blue line a minute later before his pass split two defenders and led Meade to goal, where he finished on the backhand at 5:43.
· Stonehill nearly made it 3-1, but senior Nicholas Godin missed an open net during a 2-on-1 at 15:04, and senior William Santangeli (Oakville, Ontario/Saint Mark’s School) had a chance smothered by Schoen at the other end with 15:55 gone after flying through the right circle.
· Decker vacated his net for the final 1:53, and the Purple Knights put five shots on goal in a 57-second span during the waning minutes, with Routh’s tough-angle shot from the right circle at 18:34 and junior Zach Sullivan’s (Weymouth, Mass./Walpole Express) turnaround bid from the left circle with traffic in front at 19:31 the most dangerous opportunities. Schoen stopped each attempt.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
· Friday at Post University, 7:30 p.m.