SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team fell in a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) contest against nationally-regarded New England College, 4-1, on Saturday at Cairns Arena. The Purple Knights fall to 7-10-2 and 4-8-1 in the NEHC with the loss, and the Pilgrims improve to 12-7 and 8-5. The Pilgrims received votes toward both Division III national polls this week.

For the Purple Knights, junior Eric Salzillo (Johnston, R.I./Boston Bandits) scored the only goal, with assists from senior Danny Divis (Media, Pa./Minnesota Wilderness) and sophomore Sam D'Antuono (Hingham, Mass./Dexter School), who won 14 faceoffs. Classmate Chris Johnson made 34 saves. Johnson moved his season saves total to 621, which is just 11 shy of tying Chris Yurco '01 for 10th in program history in season saves.

For the Pilgrims, junior Bryce Nielsen scored twice while senior Chris Santello recorded a goal and an assist. First-year Patrick DeBlois tallied once and classmate Adam Zollner went 16-for-22 on faceoffs, while sophomore Mike Whitehair went 14-for-21. Senior Brett Kilar made 36 saves in the win.

The Pilgrims opened the scoring 6:15 into the first period, as Santello sparked a breakaway by intercepting a pass at the red line and finished with a snap shot past Johnson's glove side hip. Johnson stopped the other 12 shots he faced in the first, and the teams went to the locker rooms with the Pilgrims leading 1-0.

The Pilgrims took a 2-0 advantage midway through the second, as Walsh found Nielsen with a pass at the bottom of the right circle, and the junior finished just inside the right post at 10:36. With 2:00 remaining in the period on a Saint Michael's power play, sophomore Connor Fries fired a shot from the high slot but was denied by a sprawling Johnson with a right pad save. Seventy-six seconds later Salzillo found the back of the net on a rebound from a Divis shot from the right point.

DeBlois scored on a Pilgrims power play at the 12:38 mark of the third, with a shot from the point that got past Johnson's glove side. The Purple Knights fired 15 shots in the third period but were unable to beat Kilar, and they pulled Johnson in favor of an extra attacker at 15:41. Nielsen found a loose puck in the neutral zone and sent a wrist shot into an empty net to make the score 4-1 at 16:59. Saint Michael's did not test Kilar for the remainder of the contest.

Up next for the Purple Knigts is an NEHC contest at home against Skidmore College on Friday at 7 p.m.