The Saint Anselm College men’s ice hockey team came up just short against Assumption College, falling to the Greyhounds 2-1 in a Northeast-10 Conference tilt from Buffone Arena. The Hawks slip to 10-9-1 overall and 5-2 against NE10 opponents while the Greyhounds move to 11-5-1 overall and 4-4-1 in league play.

The teams combined for just six shots in the opening eight minutes with both goaltenders turning away all of them in that span. The Greyhounds went on the power play with 8:18 gone in the opening period. However, only one shot got through to the net and senior goalie Colin Soucy stopped it.

Both teams skated four-on-four midway through the period but nothing came of it. Soucy made several saves to keep the game scoreless, including a pair of saves with just under five minutes left in the first period.

The Hawks opened the second period with a pair of power play chances. However, Saint Anselm only got one shot during both penalties and the Greyhounds goalie stood tall for his team to keep the game scoreless.

Exactly eight seconds after Assumption killed off its second penalty of the frame, the home team struck first on a tally at the 7:20 mark of the second to give the Greyhounds the 1-0 lead.

Just after their third power play chance of the period expired, the Hawks nearly knotted the game at the 10:33 mark as a shot by freshman Kilian Hammersmith. His shot hit the pipe and bounced away from danger. Soucy made five saves in the final 7:16 of the period to keep his team down by just a goal.

There was not much action until the 6:33 mark of the third when Assumption took a 2-0 lead on a tally by Robert Holyoke. Saint Anselm cut the lead in half 50 seconds later on a goal by junior Mike Ferraro for his team-leading eighth goal of the season. It was the Hawks first shot of the third period. Classmate Liam O’Sullivan contributed his team-best ninth assist of the season.

However, the Hawks were limited to just six shots on net for the rest of the game, including two on a late power play opportunity with 2:13 left in regulation. A last second chance was denied by Assumption with three seconds left to play.
Assumption held a 25-17 advantage in shots in the game and won the faceoff battle 38-31. Soucy finished the night with 23 saves for the Hawks.

The Hawks return to the ice on Tuesday, Jan. 22 in Brunswick, Maine to take on the Polar Bears from Bowdoin College from the Sidney J. Watson Arena.