Hawks use four power play goals
to repeat as NE-10 champs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Tony Bonvechio – Phone: 802.654.2929
Box Score: http://www.smcathletics.com/sports/mice/2010-11/files/nestastm.htm.
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Senior captain Alex
Higgins receives the NE-10 men's ice hockey finalist
trophy
from Northeast-10 Conference Assistant Commissioner Amy
Resnick after
Saturday's 7-4 setback to Saint Anselm (photo by Richard
Orr). |
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Michael's
men's ice hockey team (11-15-1) felt the disadvantage of four
Saint Anselm power play goals as the Hawks repeated as the
Northeast-10 Conference champions at Cairns Arena on Saturday. The
Purple Knights had not lost in their previous three trips to the
championship game.
For Saint Michael's, junior Reave MacKinnon
(Winnipeg, Manitoba/Winnipeg Saints) had two goals and an
assist, and accompanied classmate Brady Earle (Columbia,
Md./The Gunnery School) on the NE-10 All-Championship
Team.
For Saint Anselm (13-11-2), senior Coleman Noonan
(Norfolk, Mass./Catholic Memorial) was the difference with
two goals and two assists for a place on the All-Championship Team.
Senior Paul Snell (Groton, Mass./New England Junior
Huskies) had an assist and earned all-tournament honors,
and senior Nick Wheeler (Nashua, N.H./New England Junior
Huskies) had a goal and was named the All-Championship
Most Valuable Players.
The Hawks made good use of power play opportunities in the first
period, jumping out to a 3-1 advantage and converting on two of
three power play chances. The Purple Knights would strike first on
a rebound goal by MacKinnon, who flicked the puck in the net as
Saint Anselm freshman goalie Robert Kang (Glen Rock,
N.J./Tabor Academy) couldn't corral a wrist shot by
Saint Michael's senior Nick Sheehan (Potsdam,
N.Y./Cornwall Colts). The Hawks then rattled off three
consecutive goals, beginning with an even strength tally by
Wheeler. Saint Anselm assembled a furious power play attack with a
flurry of quality shots, but Wheeler finally hit pay dirt with
point-blank slap shot from the left side just as the power play
expired.
Freshman Alex Pascal (Blue Bell, Pa./Westminster
School) gave the Hawks their first lead in the
15th minute with a wrist shot from the neutral zone with
one second left on the power play clock, catching the Purple
Knights in a scramble to get into defensive position. Sophomore
Mike Richard (Derry, N.H./New England Huskies)
then made it 3-1 with a behind-the-back deflection of a slap shot
from senior Jim Toomey (Billerica, Mass./Kimball
Union) the Hawks' third power play of the
period.
Saint Michael's found new life in the second period,
rallying with three goals to make it 5-4 in favor of the Hawks
after two periods of play. It did not start well for the Purple
Knights, however, as Noonan won an early faceoff in the Saint
Michael's zone, plowed through the defense and netted a
stumbling top shelf goal to put Saint Anselm up 4-1. MacKinnon
would answer with his second goal of the game as he knocked in a
tumbling puck that bounced out of Kang's reach after he saved
Earle's initial shot.
Saint Anselm senior Ryan Butler (Arlington, Mass./Avon
Old Farms) countered with a power play deflection goal in
the crease just over a minute later, but back-to-back Saint
Michael's goals would put the Purple Knights within one
heading into the third period. Sophomore Morgan Bell
(Revelstoke, British Columbia/Saint Alberts Saints)
unleashed a blast from the point that caught the Hawks in a switch
for the third Purple Knight goal, and senior Glenn Belmore
(Cornwall Ontario/Wellington Dukes (Univ. of Vermont))
flushed a rebound after freshman Nic McIntyre
(Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec) had his shot blocked.
Five third period penalties spelled doom for Saint
Michael's, however, and the Hawks put the game away with two
more goals. Noonan gave his team a two-goal lead with a crafty
display of stick handling through the entire Saint Michael's
defense and crashed into the net while potting his second goal of
the night. Freshman Steve Mollo (Saunderstown,
R.I./Williston Northampton) added an insurance goal with
the fourth and final power play tally for Saint Anselm.
Saint Michael's sophomore goalie Mike Dizgun
(Kirkland, Quebec/OCN Blizzard) made 31 saves and finishes
the year with an 8-10-1 record, while Kang stopped 39-of-43 shots
for the Hawks to improve to 11-8-2.
The Purple Knights finish the 2010-11 season with 11 wins, the
third 11-win season in the past four years. Nine Purple Knights
ended their careers with today's game: Belmore, Fran
Briand (South Burlington, Vt./Loomis Chaffee School),
Alex Higgins (Phoenix, Ariz./Kent School),
Tully LaBelle-Hamer (Fairbanks, Alaska/Alaska
Avalanche), MacKinnon, Brian McWade (Franklin,
Mass./Xaverian Brothers), Matt Rigtrup (Montclair,
N.J./Pickering Panthers), Brendan Rimmer (Newbury,
Mass./Pingree School) and Sheehan.
GAME SUMMARY
1
2
3
Total
Saint Anselm
3
2
2
7
Saint
Michael's
1
3
0 4
SCORING
First Period: 1. STM, MacKinnon (Earle,
Sheehan), 9:38. 2. STA, Wheeler (Noonan), 12:40. 3. STA, Pascal
(Toomey, Tabano), 15:55. 4. STA, Richard (Toomey, Mollo),
19:48.
Second Period: 5. STA, Noonan, 3:23. 6. STM,
MacKinnon (Sheehan, Earle), 11:57. 7. STA, Butler (Snell, Noonan),
13:09. 8. STM, Bell (MacKinnon, Rigtrup), 15:52. 9. STM, Belmore
(Rigtrup, Jangro), 19:16.
Third Period: 10. STA, Noonan (Crovo), 5:20.
11. STA, Mollo (Tabano), 7:32.
Shots on Goal: STA (13 – 12 – 13
– 38), STM (16 – 18 – 9 –
43)
Saves: STA, Kang (39 saves), 60:00. STM, Dizgun
(31 saves), 58:07.
-PURPLEKNIGHTS-
