SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - On the strength of scoring five times in an 8:37 span of the second period, the second-seeded Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team pushed past No. 3 Assumption University, 7-3, during a Northeast-10 Conference Championship semifinal on Saturday at Cairns Arena.

The Purple Knights booked a spot in their 11th NE10 title game and will visit No. 1 Saint Anselm College next Saturday at 1 p.m. The traditional rivals will meet for a league crown for the eighth time.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (14-11-1), Assumption (16-15-1)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Marshall Murphy (Little Canada, Minn./Northern Colorado Eagles), 34 saves
• Sophomore Brennan McFarland (Greeley, Colo./Northern Colorado Eagles), 1 goal, 2 assists
• Senior Matt Schreiner (Falmouth, Mass./Walpole Express), 1 goal, 1 assist, 7 faceoff wins
• Sophomore Case Kantgias (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Northern Colorado Eagles), 1 goal, 1 assist, +3
• Junior Jack Bavis (West Roxbury, Mass./Valley Jr. Warriors), 1 goal
• Sophomore David Ciancio (Scituate, R.I./Seahawks Hockey Club), 1 goal
• Sophomore Ryland Dukes (Nashville, Tenn./Walpole Express), 1 goal (1st career)
• First-year Quinn McCarthy (Melrose, Mass./Holderness School), 1 goal
• Junior Gabriel Gagnon (Mascouche, Quebec/East Coast Wizards), 1 assist, 3 blocks
• First-year Ashton Allain (Brentwood, Tenn./Walpole Express), 3 blocks
• Senior Paulius Macijauskas (Kėdainiai, Lithuania/Rice Memorial Prep), +3
• Junior Zach Taylor (Hanover, Mass./South Shore Kings), 6-for-14 faceoffs
• First-year Jake Lincourt (Smithfield, R.I./Walpole Express), 5-for-10 faceoffs

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student William Smith, 1 goal, 1 assist
• Senior Jimmy McDermott, 1 goal
• Sophomore John Woernle, 1 goal
• Graduate student Drew Benedict, 26 saves in 40 minutes, loss
• Junior Thomas McLarnon, 6 saves in 19:05 of relief

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights received goals from all four lines while holding a 39-37 edge in shots.
• Saint Michael's improved to 12-0 this season when scoring at least four goals, and 26-1 in such games since December 2019.
• The Purple Knights are 10-3 since Jan. 13, winning five in a row for the first time in three seasons, and for just the third time since 2000.
• Saint Michael's has won four in a row against Assumption, improving to 6-3 against the Greyhounds during postseason play.
• The Purple and Gold is 14-6 in Cairns Arena during the postseason, including 10-2 in semifinals.
• Murphy tied Bob Chancio '98 (1996-97) and Tim Decker '20 (2019-20) for third in program history with 12 wins this season. With 703 saves, he passed Dave Donzanti '15 (680 in 2013-14) for ninth in school annals.

THE ACTION

• McDermott put Assumption on the board at 11:34 of the first period, tipping sophomore Sean Corliss' shot from the left point while occupying the slot.
• Murphy made a pair of outstanding saves of graduate student Mike D'Ambrosio a little more than seven minutes into the second period to keep it 1-0, first extending with his paddle near the left post before reaching his left pad behind his body to turn away a redirection at the right post mere seconds later.
• Saint Michael's started its scoring flurry shortly thereafter, with McCarthy punching a loose puck over Benedict's right shoulder at 11:01 before Dukes skated from behind the net toward the right post, turned and picked a shot over Benedict's left shoulder from close range only 2:23 later.
• With 16:47 gone, Ciancio knocked in McFarland's entry pass while crashing the crease, and an open Kantgias converted from out front only 13 seconds after that, taking junior Alex Dalton's (Andover, Mass./Valley Jr. Warriors) pass from the left boards. The helper was Dalton's first point of the season.
• Murphy stoned sophomore Ronny Paragallo twice on a breakaway around the 18-minute mark, and Schreiner slipped a shot from the slot past an upright Benedict's outstretched right skate with 22 seconds to go thanks to senior Owen Rudicus' (Duxbury, Mass./Tabor Academy) centering pass.
• Assumption got two goals back to start the third period, with Smith one-timing home graduate student Christopher Stalmok's pass at 5:35 before Woernle converted on a power play at 10:53, floating a shot in from the left point.
• Murphy made a glove save off of McDermott's shot following a faceoff win at 12:38, charged from his crease to deny Paragallo at 13:50, and had a glove stop on a tip-in try in the right circle by senior Colin Philippon at 14:37. He was aided by Allain blocking consecutive shots at 16:28, stopping the second one while prone on the ground.
• The Purple Knights salted the game away with a pair of empty-net goals eight seconds apart, as Bavis tallied from neutral ice at 18:19 before McFarland forced a giveaway in the left circle, spun and found the empty net at 18:27.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Next Saturday at Saint Anselm, 1 p.m. in NE10 Championship Final