SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - Junior Thomas Flack (Toronto, Ontario/Saint Michael's Buzzers) scored with 3:57 left in the third period to lift the Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team over Saint Anselm College, 5-4, on Saturday at Cairns Arena in a Northeast-10 Conference game. The Purple Knights, who erased a two-goal deficit, jump over the Hawks for second in the NE10 standings in the opener of a two-game weekend set.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (11-8-2, 7-5-1 NE10), Saint Anselm (11-8-2, 6-3-2 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Thomas Flack (Toronto, Ontario/Saint Michael's Buzzers), 1 goal, 1 assist, 14-for-27 faceoffs, 3 blocks
• Junior Noah Muller (Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Düsseldorfer EG), 1 goal, 1 assist
• Junior Sel Narby (Huntington, N.Y./Connecticut Junior Rangers), 2 assists
• Junior Cameron Stewart (Sabattus, Maine/East Coast Wizards), 1 goal, 1 assist
• Junior Paul Cerdà (Puigcerdà, Catalunya/Buffalo State), 1 goal
• Junior Paul McAuliffe (Newton, Mass./Kimball Union Academy), 1 goal
• Junior Niall Foster (Newmarket, N.H./Walpole Express), 1 assist, 20-for-26 faceoffs
• Senior William Santangeli (Oakville, Ontario/Saint Mark's School), 1 assist, 7-for-13 faceoffs
• Senior Tim Decker (Liverpool, N.Y./Canterbury School), 25 saves
• Sophomore Andrew DeCristoforo (Medway, Mass./South Shore Kings), 5 blocks

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Liam O'Sullivan, 2 assists
• Sophomore Anthony Iacullo, 2 assists
• Senior Trey Aiello, 1 goal
• Senior Mike Ferraro, 1 goal
• Sophomore Kilian Hammersmith, 1 goal
• Sophomore Kevin Ouellette, 1 goal
• First-year Nick Howard, 30 saves

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights move into second place in the NE10 standings with 15 points, leapfrogging Saint Anselm (14), and coming within three points of first-place Assumption College.
• The last nine games between the Purple Knights and Hawks have been decided by three goals or less.
• Decker moves into a tie with Bob Chancio '98 and Mike Dizgun '13 for fourth in program history in career wins (23).
• Cerdà, who joined the program this year after transferring from Buffalo State College, became the 20th Purple Knight to score a goal this year, with no one netting more than nine.
• Saint Michael's erased a two-goal deficit to win for the third time in nine games after not doing so previously since Feb. 24, 2018.
• The Purple Knights' five goals are just the third time the Hawks have given up five goals in a game all year, as they entered the game leading the NE10 in defensive scoring average (2.65).
• Saint Michael's moved to 8-3-2 in games decided by one goal or less this season, with four of their five wins in the second semester coming by a single tally.

THE ACTION

• Saint Anselm scored 34 seconds into the first period when senior Sean Verrier stole the puck in the Purple Knight zone and passed the to a wide open Aiello, whose shot beat Decker.
• The Hawks extended their lead with 2:32 gone when first-year Matt Hayes passed the puck to the front of the net for Ouellette, who shot the puck between the legs of Decker.
• The Purple Knights cut into the Hawk lead 16:32 into the period on a power play after Stewart fought for the puck and passed it to Muller, whose shot from the blue line hit the top right corner of the net.
• A second Purple Knight power-play goal just 1:43 later tied things up when a shot by Flack was saved, but the rebound was hit into the back of the net by Stewart.
• The Hawks took back the lead 5:34 into the second period on a power play when a shot by Iacullo was saved by Decker, with the rebound landing left of the net where Ferraro slapped in the goal.
• The Purple Knights answered with 10:01 gone after Santangeli brought the puck up the ice and took a shot that was saved by Howard, but Cerdà was there to hit home the rebound for his first goal as a Purple Knight.
• Saint Michael's scored a third power-play goal on a 5-on-3 just 2:23 later when Foster passed the puck through the crease from the right side of the ice to McAuliffe for a one-timer goal from the left circle.
• The Hawks tied the game up on a power play with 9.2 seconds left in the second period when a shot by O'Sullivan from the blue line was tipped into the net by Hammersmith.
• The Purple Knights scored the game-winner 16:03 into the third period when junior Ethan Hendrickson (Budd Lake, N.J./New Jersey Rockets) passed into the low slot for Flack, who picked the top right corner.
• The Hawks pulled the goalie and went on the power play with 18:20 gone, but Decker made three saves during the 6-on-4 advantage, Foster was 3-for-3 on draws, and Flack blocked a shot in the closing seconds to secure the Purple Knight victory.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Sunday vs. Saint Anselm, 12:50 p.m.