SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The top-seeded Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team knocked off fourth-seeded Assumption College, 4-1, during the semifinal round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship at Cairns Arena on Saturday. At 9-15-2 overall, the Purple Knights will host third-seeded Saint Anselm College next Saturday at 7 p.m. in the championship contest. The Hawks downed second-seeded Stonehill College, 3-1, in the other semifinal game. Assumption closes its season at 8-16.

Saint Michael's seeks its sixth conference tournament championship, and first since 2009. Next Saturday's matchup against Saint Anselm will be the sixth time in 14 years that the teams square off for a league crown. The Hawks have won eight NE-10 Championship titles, the most of any institution.

Seniors AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario/Ridley College) and Jeremy Wong (Montreal, Quebec/Tilton School), sophomore Josh Dickman (Kapaa, Hawaii/Saint Paul's School) and first-year Eric Salzillo (Johnston, R.I./Boston Bandits) each netted a goal for Saint Michael's. Seniors William Côté (Quebec City, Quebec/Rice Memorial Prep) and Eric Robinson (Williston, Vt./Berkshire School), junior Nick Potter (Stoneham, Mass./The Brooks School) and sophomore Danny Divis (Media, Pa./Minnesota Wilderness) all provided one assist apiece. Senior Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Pa./Northfield Mount Hermon) made 18 saves for his ninth win of the season.

First-year Brian Farrell (Island Park, N.Y./West Boca) scored Assumption's goal help from classmates Cam Laughlin (Natick, Mass./The Governor's Academy) and Tommy Mahoney (Braintree, Mass./Braintree). Junior Chris Hemhauser (Old Saybrook, Conn./Glastonbury) collected 43 saves.

In a first period where Saint Michael's led shots, 15-7, the Purple Knights also netted two goals. On the first tally, Robinson fed a pass to Salzillo through the neutral zone, who then skated midway through the offensive zone before firing a shot through traffic to the right side of the net at 6:41. The Greyounds earned the game's first power play, but saw their only shot with the extra man get snagged by Donzanti's glove at 14:10. The hosts extended the margin when Divis fired a point shot that bounced off Hemhauser and the rebound kicked to Dickman, who stuffed in the puck at 17:17. A pair of Hemhauser stops and one by Donzanti kept the score at 2-0 after the opening period.

The second stanza saw the Purple and Gold leading in shots, 19-4. With Hemhauser being tested with three shots in the opening 3:40, Assumption countered with a trio of bids on Donzanti at 5:20, including a pair of attempts off the stick of sophomore Paul Amarone (Hamden, Conn./Trinity-Pawling). After going on the power play for the first time of the game, Pieprzak's slapshot from just above the right circle at 7:20 was kicked aside by Hemhauser's left pad. Saint Michael's failed to convert on its next power-play opportunity and Assumption cut the deficit in half when Farrell picked up the puck off a deflection from Laughlin's initial shot, and buried home the puck at 17:41.

The final period saw the hosts pull away by scoring two unanswered goals on 13 shots. Just six seconds after the opening face-off, Dickman corralled the puck and laced a shot that clanged off the right post. Saint Michael's capitalized on its next scoring chance as Potter fed a pass from below the goal line to Wong, who wristed a low slot shot that beat Hemhauser at 1:57. The Purple Knights' offense kept up its tempo, challenging Hemhauser with 10 shots over the next nine minutes. Pieprzak registered a short-handed marker when the puck trickled over the goal after squeaking through Hemhauser's legs at 11:53. Already skating with an extra player because of a power play, Assumption pulled its goalie at 18:14 for a 6-on-4 advantage with 32 seconds remaining on the power play. The Greyhounds got off three shots that were all smothered by Donzanti before seeing the penalty expire. Côté's bid at an empty-net tally was squashed when his shot from just outside the blue line glanced off the right post with 50 seconds to go.