SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The top-seeded Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team forced a tie midway through the third period before yielding the final three goals to No. 3 Saint Anselm College to fall 6-3 in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship title game on Saturday in Cairns Arena. The Purple Knights, who finished as the NE-10 postseason runner up for the second straight year, ended the season 9-16-2. The Hawks, who claimed their league-best ninth NE-10 postseason crown, finished 11-13-3.

Saint Michael's, which sought its sixth NE-10 crown, met Saint Anselm in an NE-10 Championship contest for the ninth time since 2000, including for the sixth time in a final. Sophomore Josh Dickman (Kapaa, Hawaii/Saint Paul's School) recorded a goal and an assist for the Purple Knights, while senior AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario/Ridley College) and sophomore Danny Divis (Media, Pa./Minnesota Wilderness) tallied once, as Pieprzak appeared in his 100th career game. Senior William Côté (Quebec City, Quebec/Rice Memorial Prep) provided two assists, and classmate Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Pa./Northfield Mount Hermon) posted 25 saves. Dickman and Pieprzak were both named to the NE-10 Championship All-Championship Team.

"We played hard and really well," said third-year head coach Damian DiGiulian. "After we tied it I thought we had a crack at it. Give it to Saint Anselm, they played really hard. I thought it was a great college hockey game. The crowd was great tonight - thanks to those students that showed up, it was a great atmosphere. The big thing is our seniors, I want to make sure they're really appreciated for everything they've done here, not just on the ice, but probably more importantly off the ice, how they've represented this program in the classroom and the community. That's going to be a tough group to say goodbye to."

Senior Johnny Daniels (Andover, Mass./Valley Junior Warriors) had a hat trick and an assist for Saint Anselm, being named MVP of the tournament. Juniors Tyler Estee (Bow, N.H./Tilton School) and Mark Meads (Middleton, Mass./Bentley) and sophomore Nick Leonard (Methuen, Mass./Valley Junior Warriors) also scored, and junior Bryan Sullivan (Burlington, Mass./The Governor's Academy) provided three assists. First-year Shane Joyce (Pembroke, Mass./PAL Islanders) turned away 30 shots.

Both teams attempted 11 shots in the opening 20 minutes, with Meads having a chance less than 90 seconds in being stopped point blank on the left side by Donzanti, who added a left pad stop at 14:15. Purple Knight senior John Teulings (Hamden, Conn./Choate Rosemary Hall) was turned away by a Joyce glove denial 19 ticks after that. Shortly thereafter, Leonard put the Hawks on the scoreboard. After Sullivan carried into the right circle, a Purple Knight skater missed the puck on a clearing attempt, leaving Leonard to follow the loose puck toward the crease, where he deked a diving Donzanti and went to the left side at 13:40.

First-year Eric Salzillo (Johnston, R.I./Boston Bandits) had a Saint Michael's chance in the slot turned away less than a minute after the goal, and junior Kevin Altidor (Montreal, Quebec/Millbrook School) followed by having a second attempt denied. Donzanti came up with a stop of Daniels at the left post at 10:44 to keep it 1-0. Sophomore Connor Mitchell (New Milford, Conn./Kent School) took a short lead pass and briefly found himself in alone on Joyce but was turned away at 13:10, and Hawk sophomore Vin D'Amato (Sutton, Mass./Junior Bruins Empire) rang the upper left corner of the post with 4:25 left.

Donzanti kept Saint Michael's within one goal at 15:45 of the second period with a glove save of Daniels, who skated in during an odd-man rush, and Altidor had a pair of power-play shots from the doorstep stopped around 11:30 before Donzanti came up with a sprawling save of Meads less than 30 seconds later while Saint Anselm was down a man. He stopped Sullivan directly off an ensuing face-off before Saint Michael's cracked the scoring column on the same man advantage. Senior Mark Higgins (Plainville, Mass./Kent School) sent a lateral pass for Divis, whose slapshot found the upper right corner at 9:27. Dickman also assisted. Just 2:06 later, the Purple Knights converted on a 5-on-3 power play, with Pieprzak knocking in a one-timer from the right circle off of Côté's pass. Altidor also assisted before rushing up the right side just after the goal, getting turned away at the right post.

Sophomore Anthony Maiuri (Boxford, Mass./New Hampton School) spun in front to one-time a pass into Joyce with 3:03 remaining, and Estee knotted the game with 53.9 seconds left in the frame during a 5-on-3 advantage. Estee fired a one-timer off of sophomore Peter Sikalis' (Acton, Mass./Cushing Academy) pass from just inside the blue line and into the right side, sending the teams into the second intermission tied at two.

Daniels snapped the tie 1:14 into the third period, skating across the blue line and sending a low shot skidding off the ice and 5-hole for the go-ahead tally. Dickman had a pair of shots deep in the Saint Anselm zone go for naught, being denied point blank at 17:15 and then on a slapper from the left circle three minutes later, but he came through with the tying marker as 9:27 remained. Sophomore Shawn Morrow (East Greenbush, N.Y./Kent School) hustled to gain possession behind the Saint Anselm net, and the puck ended up with Côté, who sent a one-time pass from behind the left side of the net to Dickman, who scored on the doorstep.

Daniels put Saint Anselm ahead to stay just 40 seconds later, taking advantage of a failed clear deep in the Purple Knight end and converting from low in the left circle. Dickman again looked to knot the score, making a short-handed rush up the right wing but having a shot from the right circle stopped at 16:58. The Hawks tacked on two insurance tallies in the final 76 seconds. First-year Nick Gorski (Sandown, N.H./Phillips Andover) had an initial shot stopped by Donzanti, but the rebound popped up in the air and Meads knocked in the loose puck at the left post at 18:46 to ice the win. With an empty net, Sullivan batted a lead pass down the center of the ice to a streaking Daniels, who scored once more at 19:29.