SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team opened a two-game Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East home weekend with a 4-2 loss to nationally-regarded New England College on Friday evening in Cairns Arena. The Purple Knights slipped to 0-4 overall and 0-4 in the league, while the Pilgrims, who are receiving votes toward both national polls, and 5-1 and 4-1.

Juniors AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario/Ridley College) and Jeremy Wong (Montreal, Quebec/Tilton School) both scored for the hosts, and classmate Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Pa./Northfield Mount Hermon) had 29 saves, including 19 in the second period alone. Saint Michael's was only outshot 33-26, holding edges in the first and last stanzas.

Senior Jesse Ostring (Ylojarvi, Finland/SUNY Potsdam) and sophomore Jonatan Nilsson (Vimmerby, Sweden/Bradford Rattlers) each had a goal and an assist for New England College, while sophomores Garrett Brazzier (Mississauga, Ontario/Harrington) and Cheyne Matheson (Wheatley, Ontario/Leamington) also tallied. Senior Matt Abbott (Kirkland, Quebec/Lakeshore Panthers) added two assists, and senior Sebastian Anderson (Sundyberg, Sweden/Sollentuna) made 24 stops.

The Purple Knights held a 9-6 advantage in shots during the opening 20 minutes, with the teams combining to score the period's two goals just 50 seconds apart. While making a rush up the right wing, Pieprzak picked the right side of the net at 11:56, with first-year Shawn Morrow (East Greenbush, N.Y./Kent School) contributing an assist for his first college point. However, at 12:46, Ostring stood out front and tipped home senior Kevin Marceau's (Concord, N.H./Concord) blast from the point.

New England College went in front 5:09 into the second period when Matheson scored from the slot on a power play, but Donzanti limited further damage during the minutes that followed, making three saves during a Pilgrim power play that began at 5:47. After Matheson rang a power-play shot off the post, another Purple Knight ended up in the box, but Donzanti made two more stops while being helped by an addition shot hitting the post during a 1:45 two-man Pilgrim advantage. Junior William Côté (Quebec City, Quebec/Rice Memorial Prep) broke away with 7:40 remaining in an effort to knot the contest, but Anderson stopped his attempt. Nilsson added to his team's advantage with 3:21 left, scoring from out front during an odd-man rush to make it 3-1.

The visitors had a goal wiped out 1:35 into the third period, as the referees determined a shot that hit the upper left-hand corner of the frame bounced out and not into the net, as originally credited, but the Pilgrims responded by scoring their fourth goal at 2:06. As Brazzier applied pressure on the Saint Michael's net with his team down a man, a Purple Knight who was trying to clear his zone knocked the puck off of Brazzier, who collected and picked the upper left corner for the short-handed marker. With 12:25 gone in the period, Wong cut into his team's deficit by batting the puck out of the air at the left post, but Saint Michael's came no closer despite pulling Donzanti for the final 49 seconds. First-years Danny Divis (Media, Pa./The Gunnery) and Connor Mitchell (New Milford, Conn./Kent School) assisted Wong for their first college points.

The Purple Knights host long-time rival Saint Anselm College tomorrow at 3 p.m. in a contest that will count toward both the ECAC East and Northeast-10 Conference standings. The squads met eight times in the last 14 postseasons.