MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Anselm men's ice hockey team will host the Stonehill College Skyhawks on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 in the Northeast-10 Tournament Semifinals for the second year in a row.  The Hawks finished in first place in the NE-10 Conference to claim the regular-season title and receive a first-round bye for the seventh consecutive season.  The Skyhawks, who are seeded fifth in the tournament, defeated fourth-seeded Franklin Pierce in Saturday's quarterfinal to advance to the semifinal round.  The victor of this semifinal game will take on the winner of the Saint Michael's/Assumption semifinal in the NE-10 Championships at 4:00 pm on Saturday.

Ticket Information: Below is the complete ticket information for Saturday's game.
Adults: $5.00
Seniors/Children: $3.00
Northeast-10 Students AND Saint Anselm Students: $1.00

Saint Anselm at a Glance: The Hawks finished the regular season with a 13-11-1 overall record.  They went 9-9-1 in the ECAC East and finished in a tie with Babson College for second place, which is their highest ECAC finish in school history.  They topped the Northeast-10 standings, going 4-0-1 in the regular season and earning their seventh straight NE-10 title. 

Junior tri-captain Coleman Noonan (Norfolk, Mass.) led both the ECAC East and the Northeast-10 Conferences in scoring, recording 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 total points in the regular season.  No Hawk has led either conference at the end of the season in at least a decade.  He is also the first Hawk to reach the 40-point mark since Josh Hechter in 2006.  Noonan is third in the ECAC East in both goals and assists and second in both power-play goals (2) and points (4).  He leads the conference in both shorthand goals (3) and points (5) and is fifth in the nation with his three shorthanded goals.  With the help of Paul Snell (Groton, Mass.), Tucker Mullin (Andover, Mass.), and Ryan Butler (Arlington, Mass.), who each scored two, the Hawks are number one in the country with 10 shorthanded goals on the season.  The team is also second in the ECAC East in scoring offense, netting 98 goals in the regular season.

Freshman Tucker Mullin finished second among rookies and fifth overall in scoring, registering 16 goals and 14 assists for 30 points.  Additionally, he is fifth in the conference in goals and sixth in power-play goals (6), and he ranks 11th in the nation among rookies, averaging 1.25 points per game.  Paul Snell is seventh in the ECAC in assists (18) and Timothy King (Weymouth, Mass.) finished fifth among rookies with 23 points.  Ryan Holley (Owings, Md.) is seventh in power-play points (13) and fifth in defenseman scoring, with 19 points on the season.  Finally, goaltender Alex Wyse (Amherst, N.Y.) finished second in wins (9), third in winning percentage (.559), fourth in save percentage (.904) and fifth in goals against average (3.00).

Stonehill at a Glance: The Skyhawks finished the season with a 10-15-1 overall record, going 2-9 in the Northeast-10 and taking the fifth seed in the Northeast-10 Tournament.  The Skyhawks completed a dramatic comeback against the Franklin Pierce Ravens in Saturday's quarterfinal game, overcoming an early 4-0 deficit to defeat the Ravens 5-4 in overtime.  The Skyhawks are looking for their second Northeast-10 Tournament title after outlasting the Hawks in double overtime in the 2007 finals.

The Skyhawks' offense is led by senior Pete Roundy, who recorded 10 goals and 19 assists for 29 points on the season.  Roundy, who will be making his 100th career appearance in Wednesday's semifinal game, has 91 career points on 28 goals and 63 assists.  Tyler Jackson and Mike Manna split time in the net this season.  Jackson went 6-8 with a 3.59 GAA and an .889 save percentage.  Manna, this week's NE-10 Goalie of the Week, is 3-7-1 with a 4.08 GAA and an .877 save percentage.

Saint Anselm vs. Stonehill Matchup and the All-time Series: The Hawks and Skyhawks have faced each other 17 times in history, and the Hawks have a stark advantage in the series, going 14-2-1 all-time against the Skyhawks.  However, both of the Hawks' losses came in the Hawks' last two playoff matchups against the Skyhawks.  Stonehill knocked Saint Anselm out of the tournament in the semifinal round last season on March 4, 2009, stopping the Hawks from reaching the finals for the first time in school history.  The Skyhawks also defeated the Hawks in double overtime in the 2007 three-game championship series to claim their first and only NE-10 title in school history.

Northeast-10 Tournament History: The Hawks have never finished below first place in the NE-10 since the addition of hockey to the conference in 2003, although they have received the second seed twice due to tiebreaking situations.  As a result, the Hawks advance to the semifinals after receiving a first-round bye for the seventh consecutive season; the Hawks have never had to play a quarterfinal game in the Northeast-10 Tournament.

The Hawks have two Northeast-10 Tournament titles in their history, after defeating Southern New Hampshire in the championship game in both 2005 and 2006.  The Hawks are second only to the defending-champion Saint Michael's, who won the tournament in 2004, 2008, and 2009.  Saint Anselm's opponent Stonehill is the only other team to earn a postseason title; they defeated Saint Anselm 2-1 in double overtime in the third game of a three-game championship series in 2007.  (After the length of the 2007 finals, the Northeast-10 abandoned the three-game series format and returned to a single championship game.)

In addition to their NE-10 titles, the Hawks also won the Division II Championships in 2000 and 2001, before the existence of NE-10 hockey.  The Hawks defeated Southern New Hampshire (then N.H. College) in both of those championship games as well.

Northeast-10 Quarterfinals - Saturday, February 27
#3 Saint Michael's 7, #6 Southern New Hampshire 5
#5 Stonehill 5, #4 Franklin Pierce 4 (OT)

Northeast-10 Semifinals - Wednesday, March 3
#5 Stonehill at #1 Saint Anselm - 7pm
#3 Saint Michael's at #2 Assumption - 7pm

Northeast-10 Finals - Saturday, March 6
Final two remaining teams at higher seed - 4pm