The Saint A’s men’s hockey team headed into their two games this weekend with a 3-1 record. The team suffered a 7-4 loss Friday to Assumption College. 

Senior Nick Howard started in goal on Friday and posted 31 saves on 38 shots in the loss. Sophomore, Chase Reynolds, opened the scoring at 6:36 of the first period off a nifty backhander. Assumption then scored two goals late in the first to take a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. 

The Hawks started to improve their play in the second period and tied the game 2-2 late in the period. Tommy Schwartz scored the tying goal off a sweet dish from Senior Andrew Andary. The Hawks and the Greyhounds entered the third period tied 2-2. 

Early in the third, Reynolds scored his second goal of the game to put the Hawks up 3-2. The Greyhounds then went on a 5 on 3 powerplay after a couple tough calls. Assumption scored on the 5 on 3 and the following powerplay to take a 4-3 lead. The Greyhounds went on to score 3 more goals to take a commanding 7-3 lead. Senior Matt Hayes would score a power play goal with 1:23 left in regulation off a nice feed from Jack Murphy. 

The Hawks knew that Friday’s score didn’t reflect the high-caliber team they are. Howard spoke for the whole team when he said, “We’re going to leave Friday in the grave, where it belongs.”

Andary also had strong words for Friday saying, “Having another team come into our house and winning, left a sour taste in our mouth.”

The Hawks certainly used this sour taste as fuel when they took the ice on Saturday,  looking for revenge against the Greyhounds.

Saturday night started with the Saint Anselm Hawks honoring sophomore Richie Colarusso’s mother, Julie Colarusso with a ceremonial puck drop before the game. This weekend was the 12th annual Pink In The Rink celebration with both Saint Anselm’s Men and Women’s teams raising awareness for breast cancer. 

Starting between the pipes was Sophomore goaltender Trevor Lally. Lally had an impressive 39 saves on Saturday and a .951 save percentage in the 5-2 game. Junior Alec Grace started the score-card with a one-timer off a pass from Sophomore Hunter Brackett, just under two minutes from the puck drop. With energy high, the Hawks found themselves with another scoring opportunity when Sophomore defenseman Mark Blaney took control of the play. Blaney saw sophomore Chase Reynolds setting up for a give-and-go pass, resulting in two quick tape-to-tape passes, and Blaney depositing the puck into the net. Reynolds was credited with an “Apple” and Blaney augmented the Hawks lead to 2-0 in the first period.

Starting the second period, Junior Tommy Schwartz extended that lead to 3-0, off of a pass from Senior Matt Hayes while on the power play. As the Hawks kept outplaying the Greyhounds, their superb playmaking led to yet another goal. This time a tip-in goal for Reynolds assisted by Junior Luke Mix and Sophomore Richie Colarusso, extending the home lead to 4-0 in the second period. 

Entering into the third period, the Hawks unfortunately suffered 2 unanswered-goals from the Greyhounds. As time was winding down in the game and the score was still 4-2 Hawks, the Greyhounds chose to pull their goalie in order to get an extra pair of skates on the attack. As they frantically chased 2 more goals, Schwartz found the back of the net again from the neutral zone, from a pass cast by Senior Andrew Andary solidifying a 5-2 mark on the scoreboard. The Hawks penalty kill was nothing short of superlative, as they went 7-for-7 on the kill this past Saturday. 

When asking Senior Nick Howard what the recipe for success has been while on the penalty kill this season he said, “Discipline on the ice is something we have to work on as a group,… we need to find ways to make things happen, whether its clearing pucks, eating pucks (blocking shots), quick changes, we do a good job at communicating where we want guys to go, need to be, or when we need a whistle, when we need guys to catch their breath.” 

This is a feat not many teams can boast about, yet time and time again the Hawks looked more than comfortable throughout the contest while shorthanded. This compounded on the 1-for-2 power play’s converted from the Hawks, led to the 5-2 triumph over the Assumption Greyhounds.

“Saint A’s has always been one of the top teams in the conference. This year we want to reinstate ourselves as the dominant school and team,” said Howard. 

In regards to the team’s goals for this season, Senior Defenseman Mark Leach spoke of the high ambitions saying, “I think the goals for this season ultimately are to make the playoffs, make it past the first round, which obviously nipped us in the butt last year, and collectively as a senior class we want to win it all. I think overall the team feels that. So our main goal this season is to win the whole thing.”