SHELTON, Conn. - Sophomore Brennan McFarland (Greeley, Colo./Northern Colorado Eagles) assisted all four goals to help the Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team rally past Post University, 4-2, on Saturday at the Sports Center of Connecticut and lock up the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Conference Championship.

The victory ensures the Purple Knights, who are 9-3 since the calendar flipped to 2023, earned a first-round bye and will host a semifinal contest next Saturday at 4 p.m. Saint Michael's nailed down the No. 2 seed with 38 points, finishing just two points short of regular-season champion Saint Anselm College. In the semifinals, they will play the winner of Tuesday's opening-round contest between No. 3 Assumption University and No. 6 Post.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (13-11-1, 12-7-1 NE10), Post (6-21-2, 4-14-2 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• McFarland, 4 assists, +2
• Junior Zach Taylor (Hanover, Mass./South Shore Kings), 1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 10-for-25 faceoffs
• First-year Quinn McCarthy (Melrose, Mass./Holderness School), 1 goal, 1 assist
• Senior Owen Rudicus (Duxbury, Mass./Tabor Academy), 1 goal
• Sophomore Case Kantgias (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Northern Colorado Eagles), 1 goal
• Junior Marshall Murphy (Little Canada, Minn./Northern Colorado Eagles), 25 saves
• Senior Matt Schreiner (Falmouth, Mass./Walpole Express), 9-for-13 faceoffs
• Sophomore Jack Macdonald (Baraboo, Wis./Seahawks Hockey Club), 7-for-10 faceoffs

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior John Arciszewski, 1 goal
• Sophomore Michael Gethings, 1 goal
• Sophomore Zach Richards, 43 saves

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's held a 47-27 lead in shots and a 30-25 advantage in faceoff wins.
• Saint Michael's improved to 11-0 this season when scoring at least four goals.
• The Purple Knights swept the four-game regular-season series from Post.
• The last time a Purple Knight handed out four assists, Sel Narby '22 turned the feat at Stonehill College, exactly one year to the day, last Feb. 18.
• Senior Jeremy Routh (Hamden, Conn./New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) has totaled 20 points in the last 12 games on seven goals and 13 assists. Kantgias and Taylor have been on hot streaks of their own, with the former totaling 10 points in his last eight appearances and the latter collecting 19 points in 13 games.
• Murphy vaulted into a tie for fifth in program history with 11 wins this season, one short of third place. With 669 saves, he passed Athletic Hall of Famer Phil Fernandez '87 (656 in 1985-86) for 10th in school annals.

THE ACTION

• During a power play, Gethings put Post on the board just 4:26 into the contest, knocking home a rebound near Murphy's right pad after the netminder denied junior Nick Brewer's initial shot from above the right circle.
• Only 2:58 later, Arciszewski found the net from between the circles and near the blue line.
• McCarthy's power-play strike with 44 seconds left in the stanza started to turn the tide in the Purple Knights' favor, as he worked a give-and-go with Taylor between the slot and right circle, ultimately finishing a backdoor pass with Richards out of position.
• Another power-play tally went as the tying goal, as McCarthy's shot from the slot was stopped, but Taylor pounced on the second chance near the left side of the crease with 12:22 gone in the second period.
• Exactly six minutes into the third frame, Kantgias picked the right corner from the left circle during 4-on-4 play for what proved to be the winner.
• Richards was pulled for an extra skater with 1:55 left, but the Purple Knights buried an empty-netter for the second straight day. This time McFarland, who thus far had a trio of secondary helpers, sent a pass from the right boards in his own end toward the far blue line to spring Rudicus for the tally with 1:19 to go.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Next Saturday vs. Assumption or Post in an NE10 Championship semifinal, 4 p.m.