Travis Army recorded two assists on the night for Stonehill (PHOTO BY Bert Lane)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (Tuesday, February 19) – The Stonehill Skyhawks ice hockey team dropped its final game of the regular season Tuesday night when it fell to the Saint Anselm Hawks 7-2 at the Thomas F. Sullivan Arena in Manchester, N.H.

Mike Richard (Derry, N.H.) led the way for Saint Anselm, scoring three goals on the night. Sophomore Liam McKillop also recorded three points, notching three assists for the Hawks. John Hyslip (Andover, Mass.), Bryan Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.), Eric Czapka (Holland, Pa.), Bryan Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.), and Tucker Mullin (Andover, Mass.) also scored goals for the Hawks.

Junior goaltender Nick Dries (Commerce Township, Mich.) recorded 18 saves to lead the Hawks. Freshman goaltender and reigning NE-10 Goaltender of the Week Matthew Palella (Chicago, Ill.) collected 41 saves for the Skyhawks. Will Husic (Glastonbury, Conn.) also saw time in net for Stonehill, recording one save on the night. Saint Anselm outshot Stonehill 49-20.

Freshman Travis Army (Englewood, Colo.) earned two assists on the evening. Army now has four assists in his last two games and ten on the year. Freshman Robbie Dorgan (Ossining, N.Y.) registered his seventh goal of the season and Nate Soter (Danvers, Mass.) scored his third of the year for the Skyhawks.

Robbie Dorgan scored his seventh goal of the season Tuesday night (PHOTO BY Bert Lane)

Saint Anselm jumped out to a quick lead, just 3:14 into the game when Richard received a Tim King (Weymouth, Mass.) pass and wristed it over the left shoulder of Palella to make it 1-0. Hyslip added to the Hawks' lead when he redirected an Alex Pascal (Blue Bell, Pa.) shot that slipped just underneath Palella to make it 2-0 Saint Anselm. Mullin added a power-play goal with under a minute left in the first to give Saint A's a 3-0 heading into the first intermission.

The second period started with back and forth pressure from both teams until the Hawks netted their fourth goal of the game halfway through the period. Stonehill got one back with under three minutes remaining in the second period. Army launched a blue-line shot which Dries stopped, but Dorgan pounced on the rebound and found the back of the net for Stonehill.

Saint Anselm responded just a minute later when McKillop grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and carried it into Stonehill's end for a two-on-one. McKillop drew the defender before dishing it to Czapka who finished it past Palella to make it 5-1 at the end of the second.

The Skyhawks scored their second goal of the game on a power-play six minutes into the third. Army once again found space at the blue-line and wristed a shot at Dries. Dries pushed it aside but Soter found the loose puck and snapped it past the Hawks' goaltender to make it 5-2. Saint Anselm would add two late goals to make the final score 7-2.

Stonehill (11-14-0, 6-5-0 NE-10) will travel back to St. Anselm (14-8-3, 4-1-0 NE-10) Saturday night when the teams face off in the semifinal round of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament.

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