SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - In its first home game since Dec. 7, the Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team fell to Stonehill College, 5-3, during Northeast-10 Conference play in Cairns Arena on Monday evening. The Purple Knights are now 1-13-1 overall and 0-3 in the league, while the Skyhawks remain one of two NE-10 teams with a perfect conference mark, moving to 8-9 and 4-0.

In a match-up that featured a Stonehill penalty kill that was the best in the NE-10 and a Purple and Gold power play that ranked second, Saint Michael's went 2-for-3, only missing out on a man advantage in the closing minutes of the contest. Junior Jeremy Wong (Montreal, Quebec/Tilton School) scored twice for the hosts, classmate William Côté (Quebec City, Quebec/Rice Memorial Prep) also tallied, and junior AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario/Ridley College) dished off two assists to extend his point streak to six games. Classmate Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Pa./Northfield Mount Hermon) made 19 saves.

Senior Bryan Rooney (Canton, Mass./New Hampton School) and sophomores Robbie Dorgan (Ossining, N.Y./Boston Bulldogs), Dan Graham (Billerica, Mass./Williston Northampton School) and Richard Harris (Grand Island, N.Y./Valley Jr. Warriors) each posted a goal and an assist for the Skyhawks, classmate Garrett White (Wakefield, Mass./Boston Bulldogs) also scored, and sophomore Travis Army (Englewood, Colo./Worcester Academy) had two assists. Junior Chris Tasiopoulos (Norwell, Mass./Thayer Academy) made 36 stops.

White tallied 3:58 into the game, getting Stonehill on the board with his team's very first shot after the puck trickled all the way toward the left side of the cage following a face-off at the right dot. The Purple Knights countered with a pair of power-play markers, with Côté poking in a loose puck near the right side of the net at 6:39 during a 5-on-3 before Wong's drive from the middle of the slot beat Tasiopoulos 48 seconds later. Pieprzak and first-year Danny Divis (Media, Pa./The Gunnery) assisted the Purple Knights' opening tally. However, Graham scored from the slot at 14:40, and Dorgan tipped in Harris' pass across the goal line at 18:43.

Early in the second period, Donzanti poked the puck away from a Stonehill play on the doorstep before making back-to-back saves, but the sequence ultimately ended in Harris tipping home Army's shot at 4:41 while stationed out front. Donzanti later denied Dorgan on a breakaway with 6:30 remaining before Wong brought his team back within a goal with 1:12 to go, one-timing home junior defenseman Eric Robinson's (Williston, Vt./Berkshire School) pass from the right boards into the slot. Pieprzak picked up the second assist on the play.

In a one-goal game, first-year defender Caleb Lothian (Franklin, Vt./Rice Memorial Prep) cleared a loose puck out of the crease nearly midway through the third period, and Donzanti made three saves while the Purple Knights killed the first 4:17 of a five-minute major prior to the Skyhawks being penalized. With fewer than three minutes to go, Saint Michael's was a man up for nearly two minutes between the Stonehill penalty and pulling Donzanti, but a Purple Knight hit the post at 1:20, and Rooney potted an empty-netter with 30.7 seconds left.

The Purple Knights continue their three-game homestand on Friday when they take on the University of Southern Maine at 7 p.m.