MANCHESTER, N.H. - Senior Vika Simons (Essex Junction, Vt./Minnesota Duluth Club) made 51 saves while backstopping the Saint Michael's College women's ice hockey team to a scoreless draw with Saint Anselm College on Tuesday evening in a New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) contest at Sullivan Arena. Purple Knight skaters combined to block an additional 22 shots.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (3-13-4, 2-9-1 NEWHA), Saint Anselm (12-7-1, 10-4-1 NEWHA)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Vika Simons (Essex Junction, Vt./Minnesota Duluth Club), 51 saves
• First-year Ella Saracco (Melrose, Mass./Middlesex Islanders), 8-for-15 faceoffs, 3 blocks
• Senior Arianna Boscia (Cranston, R.I./La Salle Academy), 4 blocks
• First-year Maeghan Kennard (Hamlin, N.Y./Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles), 9 faceoff wins, 3 blocks
• First-year Callie Wiley (Andover, Mass./Andover), 3 blocks

OPPONENT LEADERS

• First-year Caroline Kukas, 28 saves
• Junior Katy Meehan, 16-for-23 faceoffs
• Sophomore Kelly Golini, 11-for-17 faceoffs

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's registered 28 shots, their most in four contests with Saint Anselm this year. After the Purple Knights were outshot 16-4 in the first period, they yielded only a 33-24 lead for the remainder of regulation. The teams were a combined 0-for-13 on the power play, while Purple and Gold skaters combined to block 22 shots.
• Simons set a school record with her fourth career shutout, accomplished in just her second season on the team. With 709 saves this winter, she vaulted Abby Burke '17 (675) and Alysia Goldman '11 (689) to take over fifth in school annals.
• Simons posted her 11th 40-save outing this season, stopping at least 50 shots for the second time. It was her fourth career 50-save game.
• Three of Simons' career shutouts have necessitated making at least 47 saves; only two other shutouts in program history have required that many stops, with one each coming from Erin Stevens '13 and Nicole Talcott '19.
• Simons carried a shutout into the third period at Saint Anselm for the second time in as many contests there this winter, finishing with 110 saves and only three goals allowed in Sullivan Arena this regular season.
• Saint Michael's earned at least one point in five of its last nine games, going 1-4-4 in that time.
• This was the second 0-0 tie in program history, after a scoreless draw at home against Sacred Heart University during a non-league affair on Jan. 3, 2014. Thus, the tie at Saint Anselm was the first 0-0 deadlock the Purple Knights ever had in a league game or on the road.
• The Purple and Gold shut out Saint Anselm for the first time in 44 meetings.
• The Purple Knights' fifth overtime game of the season matched a school record shared by the 2009-10 and 2011-12 squads.
• Perennial league championship contenders, the Hawks advanced to the title game of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC)/New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) Open Tournament or NEWHA Championship in nine of the last 10 years, winning five crowns. Saint Anselm, which was blanked by Franklin Pierce University last Thursday, suffered shutouts in back-to-back home games for the first time since Jan. 23 and Feb. 2, 2010.

THE ACTION

• Simons stopped consecutive bids by sophomore Amanda Nylander and senior Amanda Conger around the five-minute mark of the opening period during the end of a Saint Michael's power play. Four more stops came in a Hawk woman advantage that started at 6:44, and Conger rung the pipe at 16:45.
• Kennard had a shot blocked soon thereafter but pounced on the loose puck and fired into Kukas, who covered for a faceoff.
• Simons had another four saves in a 38-second span near the end of the frame.
• Saint Michael's spent much of the early portion of the second period on a power play, for all but three seconds between 4:11 and 11:26, including earning a 5-on-3 advantage for 32 seconds, but Kukas stopped all seven shots sent her way.
• Near the end of a Saint Anselm power play, junior Courtney Kelly (Arlington, Mass./Boston Jr. Shamrocks) and Saracco had back-to-back shots stopped around 14:46, and senior Alissa Sullivan's (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) follow-up try was saved following the faceoff.
• Consecutive bids by Boscia and junior Lizzie Blanchard (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) were rejected a little more than three minutes into the third period, and Simons made eight saves during a Hawk power play that started at 9:28, including at one point making three straight saves in a matter of a few seconds. Saracco blocked two shots during the woman advantage.
• Wiley blocked two shots during another host power play, this one beginning at 13:50, and her third block came off of sophomore Erin Meyers' one-timer from the left circle with 49 seconds to go, which redirected into Simons, who smothered the puck.
• Junior Maddie Gervais (Glastonbury, Conn./East Catholic) looked to pot the late winner at the other end, skating through the right circle with speed before being stopped with 2.6 seconds to go.
• Saint Anselm earned a final power play 1:20 into the overtime, but Gervais and Boscia both blocked shots in the ensuing two minutes, with no pucks reaching Simons, and Wiley tipped a final pass out of the Saint Michael's zone to salt away the final 10 seconds of the woman advantage.
• In the final 20 seconds, junior Jayden Young and a teammate broke out for a 2-on-1 into the Purple Knight end, with Young opting to the take the shot herself from the left circle, but Simons turned her away with about 19 seconds to go.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Friday at Long Island University, 3 p.m.