Box Score FOXBORO, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team snapped Stonehill College's 14-game Northeast-10 Conference regular-season winning streak by forging a 3-3 tie on Tuesday evening in the Foxboro Sports Center. The Purple Knights are now 3-3-2 overall and 1-0-2 in the league, while Stonehill is 3-2-2 and 3-0-1. The contest was a rematch of a 2014 NE-10 Championship semifinal, which Saint Michael's won, 2-1.
Senior Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Pa./Northfield Mount Hermon) made 30 saves for the Purple and Gold to become the 10th goalie in school history with 1,000 career saves, reaching the milestone in his 35th game while averaging 29.3 for his career. Classmate Jeremy Wong (Montreal, Quebec/Tilton School), junior Mike Schreiner (Saint Albans, Vt./Norwich) and first-year Eric Salzillo (Johnston, R.I./Boston Bandits) all scored, and senior defender Eric Robinson (Williston, Vt./Berkshire School) dished off two assists. Schreiner and junior Nick Potter (Stoneham, Mass./The Brooks School) both won a team-high 11 face-offs.
Junior Connor Fallon (Weymouth, Mass./South Shore Kings) had a goal and an assist for Stonehill, while classmates Richard Harris (Grand Island, N.Y./Valley Jr. Warriors) and Thomas Jenkins (Canton, Mass./Williston Northampton) also scored. Senior Chris Tasiopoulos (Norwell, Mass./Thayer Academy) recorded 31 stops.
Donzanti made three stops in the first 1:40 of the contest alone, with his third save the 1,000th of his career. With 4:36 gone, Schreiner put home his second career tally thanks to a dish from senior AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario/Ridley College). A little more than three minutes later, Stonehill gained a man advantage, but Donzanti stopped all three shot during the game's lone power play. The Purple Knights responded with the next five shots, with the first four turned aside by Tasiopoulos before Wong doubled his team's lead at 15:07, converting touches by Robinson and sophomore Josh Dickman (Kapaa, Hawaii/Saint Paul's School). Donzanti made the two-goal advantage stand, denying sophomore Kevin Airoldi (Kennebunk, Maine/Babson) during a 2-on-1 break at 16:51.
Nearly midway through a scoreless second period, Stonehill tallied twice in a matter of 1:40 to knot the contest. After Jenkins put his team on the board at 9:10, back-handing home a rebound, Harris tied the score at the 10:50 mark. However, the stalemate was short lived, as Saint Michael's responded with the next nine shots, the fifth of which came off the stick of Salzillo at 14:19 for the go-ahead marker. Robinson and sophomore Anthony Maiuri (Boxford, Mass./New Hampton School) assisted, and the visitors carried the 3-2 edge into the locker room.
Saint Michael's looked to pad its lead during the early portion of the third period, firing off four of the opening five shots, but Stonehill found the equalizer when Fallon tallied at 7:14. Donzanti stopped the next four shots, with Purple Knight skaters also blocking a pair of attempts in that stretch, and Donzanti saved a final Skyhawk shot during the final 3:25 of regulation to ensure overtime. In the extra session, both teams put four shots on goal, with Donzanti rejecting two in the final 20 seconds to clinch the tie.
The Purple Knights continue a five-game road swing with an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East game against Castleton State College on Friday at 7 p.m. The Spartans advanced to at least the semifinal round of the last four ECAC East Tournaments.