SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team defeated Assumption University, 4-2, on Saturday afternoon during Northeast-10 Conference play at Cairns Arena.
 
With the win in their regular-season finale, the Purple Knights secured second place in the NE10 and a first-round bye into a home semifinal next Saturday in the NE10 Championship. They will play the winner of Tuesday's first-round contest between No. 3 Southern New Hampshire University and No. 6 Franklin Pierce University.
 
The Purple Knights honored their nine seniors during the contest: Jack Bavis (West Roxbury, Mass./Valley Jr. Warriors), David Ciancio (Scituate, R.I./Seahawks Hockey Club), Ryland Dukes (Nashville, Tenn./Walpole Express), Case Kantgias (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Northern Colorado Eagles), Jack Macdonald (Baraboo, Wis./Seahawks Hockey Club), Brennan McFarland (Greeley, Colo./Northern Colorado Eagles), Moseley Schwartz (Philadelphia, Pa./Phillips Academy), and directors of social media Casey Arsenault and Christina Cummings.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (16-11-2, 12-8 NE10), Assumption (12-18, 9-11 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior David Ciancio (Scituate, R.I./Seahawks Hockey Club),1 goal, 1 assist, 5 blocked shots
• Junior Quinn McCarthy (Melrose, Mass./Holderness School), 1 goal, 1 assist
• Sophomore Ty Bloom (Helena, Mont./Helena Bighorns), 1 goal, 1 assist, 10-for-17 faceoffs
• Senior Brennan McFarland (Greeley, Colo./Northern Colorado Eagles), 2 assists  
• First-year Evan Plunkett (Charlotte, N.C./Holderness School), 33 saves
• Senior Case Kantgias (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Northern Colorado Eagles), 1 goal, 3 blocked shots
• Junior Jake Leale (Suffern, N.Y./Connecticut RoughRiders), 4 blocked shots

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Leo Piandes, 2 goals
• Senior Ronny Paragallo, 1 assist, 11-for-20 faceoffs
• Sophomore Callum Welch, 30 saves

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights blocked 21 shots while the Greyhounds blocked 12 shots.
• Both teams won 29 faceoffs and both squads also netted one power-play goal, while Assumption had a 35-34 edge in shots.
• Kantgias scored his 20th career power-play goal, tying John Gurskis '98 for fifth in program history.
• McFarland pushed his career point total to 98.
• Plunkett registered his 12th win of the season, tying for third in program annals.

THE ACTION

• Neither team scored in the opening frame, as Plunkett and Welch made 14 and eight stops, respectively.
• All of the game's scoring occurred in the second period. Piandes scored the first goal of the game at 3:44 on a power-play opportunity to give the Greyhounds the lead. He scored again at 6:56 to double the lead on a wraparound goal from behind the net.
• The Purple Knights scored three unanswered goals in a matter of 63 seconds starting with Kantgias' power-play strike to cut the lead to 2-1 at 9:04. Ciancio followed with a slapshot from the blue line at 9:56 to tie the game.
• McCarthy scored the game-winner just 11 seconds after Ciancio's goal on an assist from Bloom on a breakaway opportunity to give the Purple Knights a 3-2 lead.
• Bloom doubled the lead with just over a minute left to play in the second period at 18:57 on a wrist shot in between the faceoff circles for the last goal of the game.
• Neither team scored in the third period, and the Greyhounds pulled Welch at 18:12 for an extra skater but could not capitalize.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday hosting NE10 Championship semifinal, time and opponent TBA.