By: Jim Fenton
The Skyhawks are the No. 3 seed and will play at Saint Michael's College after turning their season around following the semester break.
After missing the Northeast-10 Conference hockey tournament the past two years, Stonehill College is back in the postseason.
The Skyhawks (11-11-5, 8-6-4 in the conference) are the No. 3 seed in the four-team field and will play second-seeded Saint Michael's College (15-8-3, 11-5-3) in South Burlington, Vermont Saturday at 4 p.m. in the semifinal round.
The winner advances to the NE-10 championship game on March 7 to play either top-seeded Assumption College (15-8-4, 12-4-2) or fourth-seeded Franklin Pierce (15-11-4, 8-7-3).
Stonehill put together a remarkable turnaround following the semester break to get back to the tourney.
When the Skyhawks resumed their season on Jan. 4 following nearly a four-week break, they were 1-7-1, including 0-3-1 in the NE-10. But since then, Stonehill has gone 10-4-4 with an 8-3-3 record in the conference.
"We've had a great run in the second half,″ said coach David Borges. "We got healthy. Jack Hall missed a good portion of the season prior to the break and when he came back, it enabled us to make some changes and we had two stronger, balanced lines.
"Our goaltending with Matt Schoen has been unbelievable in the second half. Matt has had a phenomenal second half. We are No. 1 scoring and No. 1 in least amount of goals in our conference.
"We were really haunted in the first half of the season by our power play not producing enough and our penalty kill not doing an efficient enough job. Both have done a better job in the second half. You put all those things together and it's a formula for success.″
Schoen has a 2.69 goals against average with a .932 saves percentage in 21 games. He has been named the NE-10 goaltender of the year.
Cameron Wright, who was picked to the All-NE-10 first team, leads a balanced offense with 16 goals and 13 assists and is followed by Kayser Raei (nine goals, 17 assists), Brendan Nehmer (six goals, 15 assists to make the conference's all-rookie team), Mike Seoane (10 goals, nine assists), John Peloso (seven goals, 10 assists), defenseman Zachary Frament (four goals, 13 assists) and Charles Page (10 goals, six assists).
Stonehill went 1-1-1 against Saint Michael's, winning at home, 2-1, on Jan. 21, then finishing the season series off last weekend with a 4-2 loss and a 3-3 tie.
"It's about as even as it can get,″ said Borges. "We've got some good momentum, but we're facing a really good team.
"We feel confident that we can go up there and play and do well. It's a matter of building on the confidence we've gained in the second half and play a full 60 minutes. That's been our goal in the second half. It cost us in the beginning. We just couldn't put together a full 60-minute game.″
Only two points separated Assumption and Saint Michael's at the top of the conference while Stonehill was one point ahead of fourth place Franklin Pierce.
"Our league is extremely tough,″ said Borges. "Every team had a chance to be in the tournament up until the last weekend. Everybody this entire year has been grouped together. You've got to stay focused. If you don't it doesn't matter if you're seeded first or fourth, you have an opportunity to win.″
Original article: https://abington.wickedlocal.com/sports/20200225/colleges-stonehill-returns-to-northeast-10-conference-hockey-tournament
