The Saint Anselm men’s hockey team closed out the regular season on a six-game winning streak, all in conference, to finish their season with a record of 17-9-2, first in the NE10 by a 15 point margin- the largest gap between first and second place in NE10 hockey history. Included in this win streak was an emphatic senior day victory over conference rival St. Michael’s on February 8th, 5-3. Before the game, the senior class of Hunter Brackett, Max Burum, Mark Blaney, Richie Colarusso, Luke Mix, Chase Reynolds, and Will van der Veen were honored in a special ceremony for senior day. This class has guided Saint Anselm to 59 wins in the last 4 seasons, including a program record 21 wins and an NE10 title in the 2022-2023 season.

It was a win by commission for the Hawks, as their 5 goals were scored by five different players: Steve Armstrong, Max Burum, Will van der Veen, Garret Alberti, and Hunter Brackett. Brackett led the Hawks in offense this season, leading the NE10 in goals scored with 20 and propelling the Hawks to a league-best 3.96 goals per game. 

While the game started off with two saves by each teams’ goaltenders, Saint A’s poured on the pressure early by outshooting the Purple Knights 8-0 over the next 8 minutes. Slightly past the halfway mark of the period, momentum further shifted towards the Hawks as a slashing call on Saint Mike’s put Saint Anselm on the power play. The Hawks capitalized on the opportunity less than 20 seconds into the man advantage, as junior Garret Alberti tapped in a rebound from Brackett to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. The Purple Knights had a power play opportunity with less than 3 minutes in the opening period, but were unable to even the score after their only shot on goal was saved by goaltender Tucker Hanson. With less than 10 seconds remaining in the period, a 2-on-1 breakaway for the Hawks led to a Hunter Brackett backhander that zipped by the goalie to put the Hawks up 2-0 heading into the first intermission. 

The second period opened with an offensive burst, as the Hawks had multiple scoring opportunities in the early going. Less than 2 minutes into the period, Saint A’s went up 3-0 after Max Burum placed a slick wrist shot over the Saint Mike’s goaltender. The score would remain at 3-0 over the next few minutes, but Saint A’s continued to apply pressure, outshooting the Purple Knights 8-1 during this stretch. 

However, the Purple Knights started to find a groove, and got on the board by tapping in a loose puck floating near the goal line to make it a 3-1 game. Another goal, this one with under a minute left in the 2nd period made it a 3-2 game. 

With only a slim 1-goal lead heading into the third period, the Hawks opened with a sense of urgency and produced an offensive flurry that saw 7 shots on goal in the first 5 minutes of the final period. This led to a Steve Armstrong breakaway score off a wrist shot that flew up past the goaltender and into the roof of the net, making it a 4-2 game.

Four minutes later, the fifth goal-scorer found the back of the net for the Hawks. After a steal from Burum in the offensive zone, van der Veen found a gap in the defense and positioned himself in the slot- after receiving the feed from Burum, van der Veen rocketed a shot top-left corner to make it 5-2. A late Saint Mike’s goal and pulling the goalie the final 3 minutes was not enough, as the Hawks closed out the game with a 5-3 win on senior day to clinch the NE10 regular season title.

The Hawks closed out the regular season with two wins over crosstown rivals SNHU, earning a first-round bye in the NE10 playoffs. They will face the winner of no.4 Assumption and no.5 Post in a Semifinal match on February 22nd.