BOX
SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Second-seeded Saint Anselm College
broke open what had been a one-goal game with four goals in the
third period to take a 8-4 win over No. 3 Southern New Hampshire
University in the semifinals of the Northeast-10 Ice Hockey
Championship Wednesday night at Sullivan Arena. The Hawks,
who advance to Saturday's championship game, improve to 12-11-3
overall, while the Penmen see their season come to a close at
12-13-1 overall.
Brandon
Hammermeister (Calgary, ALB) finished with his third
career hat trick in his final collegiate game for the Penmen.
The three goals give him 73 goals and 149 points for his career,
placing him eighth in career points and tied for ninth in career
goals. Andrew Hildreth (Leominster, MA) had
a pair of assists for SNHU, while John Frey
(Westminster, CO) had the other Penmen goal.
Matt Grazioso had two goals and an
assist for Saint Anselm, which also got two goals from Brendan
Carroll.
After a first period that saw seven
goals scored and the Hawks take a 4-3 lead, neither team scored in
the second period. Saint Anselm would make it 5-3 at the 8:14
mark on a power play goal by Pat Forshner that proved to be the
eventual game-winner. The Penmen would cut the lead to 5-4 at
the 11:51 mark on a power play tally by Hammermeister, his 18th
goal of the season, but it took just 11 seconds for the hosts to
reclaim a two-goal lead as Carroll scored the first of his two
goals to make it 6-4. Carroll would score again at the 13:29
mark and Grazioso closed out the scoring at 13:40.
Saint Anselm took a 1-0 lead 3:00
into the game on an extra-man goal by Coleman Noonan, but the
Penmen wasted no time tying the score, with Frey scoring on a feed
from Hildreth at the 3:09 mark. Southern New Hampshire took a
2-1 lead at 5:39 on Hammermeister's first goal of the game, with
Josh Goodman (Highland Mills, NY) assisting.
Grazioso would tie the game on a
power play at the 9:24 mark, but Hammermeister reclaimed the lead
for the guests 56 seconds later, with Troy Maybury
(South Portland, ME) assisting. It took just 34 seconds for
the Hawks to answer, as Paul Snell scored his seventh of the year
to make it a 3-3 game. Colin Fitzpatrick gave Saint Anselm a
4-3 lead 1:56 before intermission on his 11th goal of the season.
Pat Gallagher made 29 saves for
Saint Anselm, which outshot Southern New Hampshire 35-33 for the
game and 16-8 in the third period. Shane
Brooks (Kennebunk, ME) played the first 18:04 in goal for
the Penmen and surrendered four goals before giving way to
Matt Courchesne (Bow, NH), who stopped 19 of the
23 shots he faced and took the loss by going the rest of the
way. Saint Anselm was 3-6 on the power play, while the Penmen
were just 1-7 with the man advantage.
