MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team fell in a road contest to New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) and Northeast-10 Conference opponent Saint Anselm College, 4-0, on Saturday at Sullivan Arena. The loss drops the Purple Knights to 2-4 overall, 1-3 in NEHC play, and 1-1 in the NE-10. The win improves the Hawks to 2-3, 1-3, and 1-0.

Sophomore Chris Johnson (Duxbury, Mass./Pomfret School) made 46 saves in the second consecutive contest for the Purple Knights, recording his ninth career 40-save performance. At the faceoff dot, junior Eric Salzillo (Johnston, R.I./Boston Bandits) went 12-for-19 while sophomore Sam D'Antuono (Hingham, Mass./Dexter School) went 13-for-23. The Hawks received a goal each from seniors Brendon Kerrigan and Nick Leonard, junior Jon Pallotta, and first-year Trey Aiello. Junior Shane Joyce made 24 stops on his way to a shutout.

Johnson made six saves in the final 3:18 to finish the first period with a total of 17, and the teams entered the first intermission scoreless. Early in the second period, Leonard scored on a shorthanded effort, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead at 2:13. Shortly after the goal, the Hawks drew a penalty at 2:42. On the power play, sophomores Jeremy Carignan and Trevor Kacz assisted Pallotta on a tally making it 2-0 4:30 into in the second. In the period's final 5:09, the Purple Knights successfully killed off two penalties with the help of 10 saves from Johnson.

Aiello scored from first-year Dave Almeida and junior Justin Longo just 3:02 into the third period. As they started a power play at 12:09 trailing 3-0, the Purple and Gold decided to pull Johnson in favor of an extra skater, but Kerrigan registered a shorthanded goal on the empty net just 12 seconds later. The Purple Knights were unable to beat Joyce while outshooting the Hawks 11-9 in the final period.

The next contest for Saint Michael's is on the road against in-state and NEHC opponent Castleton University on Friday at 7 p.m.