WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - In a tightly-contested defensive battle, the Western New England College men's hockey team fell to Division II Southern New Hampshire University 3-1 in an ECAC Northeast contest Tuesday night (Nov. 14) at the Olympia Ice Center.

Junior forward Brandon Hammermeister (Calgary, AB) was the star for the Penmen netting a hat trick, which included a pair of short-handed goals. Junior forward Dominic DiMarzo (East Boston, MA) contributed three assists.

The teams played to a scoreless tie after the opening period and it looked like the game would remain tied after 40 minutes until Hammermeister fired home his first short-handed score at the 19:22 mark. He then gave SNHU a 2-0 lead with another short-handed goal just 40 seconds into the third period.

Western New England College pulled within 2-1 when sophomore defenseman Andrew Rosser (Herndon, VA) scored his first college goal (on a power play) at the 3:59 mark with assists from junior forward Shawn Longley (Lewiston, ME) and sophomore forward Hank Levin (Lido Beach, NY).

Both squads kept one another off the board until Hammermeister tallied an empty net goal with 50 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

Junior goalie Brandon Gervais (Lewiston, ME) finished with 19 saves for the Golden Bears (2-3, 0-2 ECAC).

Sophomore goalie Matt Courchesne (Bow, NH) stopped 15 shots for the Penmen (2-0) who w0on their second ECAC contest.