FALL RIVER, Mass. – It was a night of firsts for the Roger Williams University Men's Ice Hockey team as the Hawks tallied the first win in the NCAA in Men's Ice Hockey, while also seeing Head Coach Chris Hall tally his first career head coaching victory and Daxton St. Hilaire (Lewiston, Maine) score the first hat trick in program history, in a 4-3 victory over UMass Dartmouth.
The Hawks opened their Inaugural season with a win, after announcing the program in the fall of 2024. RWU was outshot 32-33. While UMass Dartmouth also won the face off battle 30-56. The Hawks also had nine penalties for 18 minutes of power play time. The Hawks did win the blocked shot battle with 18 total in the game.
Daxton St. Hilaire tallied a hat trick, while TJ Sullivan (Melrose, Mass.) added a goal in the first, and four separate Hawks picked up assists in the contest. Jacob Jaslow (Tomkins Cove, N.Y.) made 29 total saves while allowing three goals, while Graham Burke made 27 stops with four goals allowed. The Corsairs had three separate goal scorers in the game.
UMass Dartmouth struck first in the opening period, just 3:02 into the matchup with Hunter Scanlon burying a shot with assists by Brennen Pecararo and Nolan Wtuzke. The Hawks responded 9:44 later with Sullivan tallying a goal off an assist by Aidan Radic (Castle Rock, Colo.). The Corsairs took the lead in the final 29.6 with Kailin Chen burying his attempt from helpers by Alex Walker and Vincent Nicosia.
In the second period, the Hawks responded with Daxton St. Hilaire intercepting a pass in the offensive zone, and then firing a shot into the back of the net to level the score at, 2-2. At the beginning of the third period, St. Hilaire struck again with a pass from JJ Alger (Brewster, Mass.) finding St. Hilaire's stick and pocketing into the back of the net to give the Hawks their first lead of the game.
The Corsairs responded with a goal by Ryan Patrick 3:51 later to level the match after Tristan Boyer found him for the leveler. St. Hilaire with 2:36 remaining in the third period then ripped a shot from just above the faceoff circles at center ice, sniping a shot over the stick side of Burke for the win.
"It was a historic night for Roger Williams and RWU Hockey," said Hall. "I am tremendously proud of these young men and the effort they put in tonight, no matter what happened. They answered the challenge and found a way to get the victory. There were great efforts across the board from our forwards. Our defense went down to our goalie, and we played collectively as a group and found a way to get the win. I'm so proud of the work they have done to establish RWU Hockey."
Roger Williams (1-0, 0-0 CNE) will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 7 at 5:00 pm in a Conference of New England (CNE) matchup against Suffolk. The Hawks will then hit the road to face Nichols on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 5:40 pm in Burrillville, R.I.
