SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team scored the first three goals en route to a 5-2 victory over Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday during Northeast-10 Conference play in Cairns Arena. The Purple Knights celebrated the 25th anniversary of the 1998-99 team winning the NCAA Division II national championship with an on-ice ceremony prior to the game.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (5-1, 3-1 NE10), Southern New Hampshire (2-4, 1-3 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Sophomore Ben Baxter (Hyannis, Mass./Seahawks Hockey Club), 2 goals, 9-for-15 faceoffs
• Senior Case Kantgias (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Northern Colorado Eagles), 2 assists
• Senior Brennan McFarland (Greeley, Colo./Northern Colorado Eagles), 2 assists
• First-year Sj LeComte (Port Monmouth, N.J./Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings), 2 assists
• Senior Jack Macdonald (Baraboo, Wis./Seahawks Hockey Club), 1 goal, 9-for-17 faceoffs
• Junior Jake Leale (Suffern, N.Y./Connecticut RoughRiders), 1 goal
• First-year Roman Winicki (Setauket, N.Y./Philadelphia Hockey Club), 1 goal (1st career)
• Junior Ashton Allain (Brentwood, Tenn./Walpole Express), 1 assist, 3 blocked shots
• First-year Evan Plunkett (Charlotte, N.C./Holderness School), 38 saves
• Sophomore Ty Bloom (Helena, Mont./Helena Bighorns), 11-for-20 faceoffs

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior Tyler Murray, 1 goal
• First-year Ryan Kayser, 1 goal
• Sophomore Sean Guerin, 16 saves in 33:03, loss

GAME FACTS

• Baxter scored a pair of goals after entering the game with one in his first 20 career games.
• Plunkett moved to 3-0 in his young career.
• Southern New Hampshire held advantages in shots (40-30) and faceoff wins (35-31).

THE ACTION

• Baxter put the Purple Knights ahead at 10:40 of the first period, picking the top right corner from the right circle.
• Only 3:41 into the second frame, Baxter batted a shot out of the air near the left post to make it 2-0.
• Leale added to the advantage at 13:03, sending home a bouncing puck from center ice.
• Murray tallied off a rebound 54 seconds later, after Plunkett denied sophomore Stone Devlin's shot out front.
• Macdonald and junior Quinn McCarthy (Melrose, Mass./Holderness School) finished a 2-on-1 rush at 17:48, with Macdonald tapping in McCarthy's cross-ice pass.
• Just 1:07 later, Winicki deflected Kantgias' shot out of the air near the right corner of the net for his first college goal.
• Kayser scored the only third-period goal, connecting from the blue line during a power play with 18:54 gone.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Tuesday vs. Saint Anselm College, 6 p.m.