Four Skyhawks Earn NE-10 All-Conference Honors

Aufiero, Doherty, Greene and Tasiopoulos all collect postseason accolades

Kevin Aufiero
Matthew Doherty
Patrick Greene
Chris Tasiopoulos

EASTON, Mass. (February 24, 2012) – Four members of the Stonehill College men's ice hockey team have earned postseason honors from the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) as selected by the league's six head coaches, it was announced earlier today.

Senior forward Patrick Greene (Weymouth, Mass./Catholic Memorial) was selected to the NE-10 All-Conference first team for the first time in his career. Greene is the first player from the Stonehill College men's ice hockey team to earn first team accolades since Brendan O'Brien (Braintree, Mass./Deerfield Academy) in the 2008-09 season.

Freshman netminder Chris Tasiopoulos (Norwell, Mass./Thayer Academy) has been named the conference's Rookie of the Year while also garnering All-Conference second team and All-Rookie team accolades. Tasiopoulos, an unanimous selection to the All-Rookie team, becomes the first player to win the Rookie of the Year award for the Skyhawks since Mike Manna (Framingham, Mass./Xaverian) did so in the 2007-08 season. Manna also earned Goaltender of the Year honors during his freshman campaign for Stonehill.

Joining Tasiopoulos on the All-Conference second team is senior defenseman Matthew Doherty (Milton, Mass./Thayer Academy) who earns his first-career selection. Freshman forward Kevin Aufiero (Canton, Mass.) was selected to the All-Rookie team.

Greene has paced Stonehill offensively all season long as the senior captain leads the squad in points with 27 total on seven goals and 20 assists. Greene is currently tied for second in the NE-10 in points and tied for first overall in assists, both with Tim King (Weymouth, Mass.) of Saint Anselm College.

Greene's ten-game point streak dating back from November 5, 2011 to December 10, 2011 is the longest streak for any player on the team this season. Greene compiled 20 points during that stretch scoring four goals and dishing out 16 assists. The senior captain also set up four game-winning tallies during that span. Over the course of the ten game point streak, Stonehill went 5-4-1 overall. Greene also earned NE-10 Player of the Week honors on December 13 propelling Stonehill to a 2-0-1 week overall in the final three games of his point streak potting three goals and dishing out six assists for nine points. It was Greene's first-career Player of the Week award.

Tasiopoulos has anchored the Skyhawks defense posting an 8-9-1 record, a .910 save percentage and a 2.99 goals against average (GAA). The freshman ranks second in the conference in GAA, third in save percentage and third in winning percentage. Tasiopoulos, along with the rest of the defense, currently ranks second in scoring defense at 3.35 goals per game and second on the penalty kill at 80.3 percent. So far during his freshman season, Tasiopoulos has earned two NE-10 Rookie of the Week Awards (12/13/11 and 1/30/12), one Goaltender of the Week (10/15/11) award and four nods to the weekly honor roll.

Doherty has been a mainstay for Stonehill's defense this season playing in all 23 games. Doherty ranks second among defenseman on the team in scoring with three goals and two assists for five points and has compiled a plus five in the plus/minus column. Out of all 23 games Doherty has played in this season, the senior assistant captain has only recorded a negative plus/minus in one contest.

Aufiero has put together a solid freshman season for Stonehill as he currently ranks fourth in the conference among all freshman with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists). Aufiero, who is fourth on the team in scoring, has played in all 23 games and is tied for third in the conference in shorthanded points with two, both goals. Aufiero's pair of shorthanded tallies is good enough for second in the NE-10.

Stonehill (9-11-3, 6-3-2 NE-10) will participate in the NE-10 Men's Ice Hockey Championship as the number three seed against second-seeded Assumption College (13-10-1, 7-3-1 NE-10) on Saturday, February 25 at Buffone Arena with the game's opening faceoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Admission for Saturday's game is $5.00 for adults, $3.00 for senior citizens and children and $1.00 for students with a valid student ID. The winner of Saturday's contest will play the winner of #1 Saint Anselm (12-8-5, 3-0-2 NE-10) and #4 Saint Michael's (6-17-2, 2-2-1 NE-10) for the NE-10 championship on Saturday, March 3 at the highest seed remaining a time to be determined later.

- www.stonehillskyhawks.com -