COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team has earned a first-round bye into a Northeast-10 Conference Championship semifinal, which the second-seeded Purple Knights will host on Saturday at Cairns Arena in South Burlington at 3 p.m. They are set to oppose No. 3 Southern New Hampshire University in a rematch of a 2024 semifinal.
 
Tickets, which can be purchased at the door, are $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and children, and free for students at NE10 schools with a valid ID. Fans will not be permitted to bring bags or beverage containers into the arena during the game.
 
After going 16-11-2 overall (12-8 NE10) during the regular season, matching their highest win total since the 1997-98 season, the Purple Knights begin pursuit of their sixth NE10 postseason crown. Saint Michael's hosts a semifinal for the third straight season, having gone 9-3 in league semifinals at Cairns Arena. The Purple and Gold split its four-game regular-season series with the Penmen this winter and is 5-5-1 in the all-time postseason series.
 
No. 1 Saint Anselm College hosts Saturday's other semifinal, opposing the winner of Wednesday afternoon's first-round contest between No. 4 Assumption University and No. 5 Post University. The highest remaining seed hosts the championship game on March 1. Southern New Hampshire, the 2024 NE10 Championship runner-up, advanced thanks to a 1-0 win over No. 6 Franklin Pierce University on Tuesday evening.
 
Senior defensemen David Ciancio (Scituate, R.I./Seahawks Hockey Club) and Case Kantgias (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Northern Colorado Eagles), both semifinalists for the Joe Concannon Award, recognizing the top American-born NCAA Division II/III player at a New England school, lead at both ends of the ice. Kantgias has team highs in points (23) and assists (16) while blocking 40 shots and owns the most career power-play goals by a Purple Knight defenseman (20), and Ciancio paces the squad in goals (11) and blocks (49) while adding 11 assists and going +8. Classmate Brennan McFarland (Greeley, Colo./Northern Colorado Eagles) enters the game with 98 career points, bolstered by notching 10 goals and 12 assists in 19 games this season.
 
Sophomore center Ty Bloom (Helena, Mont./Helena Bighorns) has nine goals and 11 assists while leading the way in faceoff wins (321) and winning percentage (54.8). Junior Quinn McCarthy (Melrose, Mass./Holderness School) posted four goals and eight assists while going +7 in the last nine games, totaling 17 points for the season, while first-year Roman Winicki (Setauket, N.Y./Philadelphia Hockey Club) adds 15 points.
 
Junior Jake Leale (Suffern, N.Y./Connecticut RoughRiders) has notched nine assists while blocking 40 shots, the most by a forward, and first-year defender Cole Douglas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side Academy) is tied for the NE10 lead in +/- (+11) while appearing in 25 games. Junior Ashton Allain (Brentwood, Tenn./Walpole Express) and senior Moseley Schwartz (Philadelphia, Pa./Phillips Academy) have seen time in 27 and 26 games, respectively, on the blue line, with Allain blocking 33 shots.
 
First-year Evan Plunkett (Charlotte, N.C./Holderness School) stands tied for the league lead in shutouts (4), second in saves per game (30.7), third in goals-against average (2.31) and save percentage (.931), and tied for third in wins (10) through 19 games. Junior Cole Manahan (Hermantown, Minn./Vernal Oilers) is third in saves per game (30.6) and fourth in both GAA (2.59) and save percentage (.926) through 11 games.
 
The Purple Knights are guided by 13th-year head coach Damian DiGiulian, whose charges are 84-56-9 in NE10 play with 10 postseason appearances in his tenure. Saint Michael's has advanced to the NE10 Championship title game five times during that stretch.