So. BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Southern New Hampshire ice hockey team played its first game of the New Year Saturday night in the DoubleTree Ice Hockey Classic hosted by Saint Michael's College. The Penmen would drop an 8-2 decision on the evening to Saint Michael's in Northeast-10 Conference play. With the loss, the Penmen are now 2-8-2 overall and 0-2-1 in league play, while the Purple Knights are 3-8 and 1-2 in the conference.

Saint Michael's would take the 1-0 lead halfway through the first period when AJ Pieprzak scored from Ryan Arsenault and Connor Logan. The score would remain 1-0 heading into the second period.

The Purple Knights scored four consecutive goals within a four-minute span to quickly push their lead to 5-0 over SNHU in the second period. However, Steven Berry (Ashburnham, Va.) would answer when he scored an unassisted goal at the 13:21 mark to put the Penmen on the board. Saint Michael's would score once more on a power-play goal to extend to lead to five to close out the period.

The Purple Knights would notch two more goals in the third period, while Southern New Hampshire freshman Joe Collins (Mansfield, Mass.) added a score from Michael Durelli (Wrightstown, N.J.) to put SNHU on the board once again.

Penmen goalie David Letarte (Salem, Mass.) turned away 28 shots in net, while Max Paluszynski (Moorestown, N.J.) saved 21 shots for SNHU. Eric McGuirk saved 19 shots in goal for the Purple Knights.

The Penmen return to action tomorrow when they play Becker College on the second day of the DoubleTree Classic. The game is set to start at 1:00 p.m.