WINCHENDON, Mass. (March 5, 2022) -- It had to be against Saint Anselm.

It was ALWAYS going to be against Saint Anselm.

Who else, frankly, could it have been against?

For its first seven seasons, the Franklin Pierce University women's ice hockey team could manage just one tie against its intrastate rivals (0-21-1), including a quartet of postseason losses. In the eighth year, the Ravens finally got in the win column in the series. On Saturday night at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena, to cap Year 10, Franklin Pierce took care of the Hawks with the trophy on the line.

A solitary power-play goal was all that was in it in the New England Women's Hockey Alliance title game. Junior Ava Kison (Eau Claire, Wis.) cashed in on the first power-play chance of the night, at the 8:42 mark of the first period. From the left wing, junior Katelyn Brightbill (Silver Spring, Md.) sent the puck up high for fellow junior Stefanie Caban (Fitchburg, Mass.), who sent it towards the net from there. The puck was deflected en route, and came straight to Kison at the bottom of the left circle. The Badger State native buried her 12^th of the season from there, to send the large and partisan crowd into a frenzy.

From there, sophomore goaltender Suzette Faucher (Middleton, Wis.) got to work at the other end of the ice to make the tally stand up. After the Ravens had their program-record 11-game winning streak snapped on Feb. 25 at Sacred Heart, Faucher took to the Franklin Pierce crease the very next day. She did not allow a goal the rest of the season. Three straight shutouts, including two in the NEWHA tournament, backstopped the Ravens to the top seed and then the title, and earned Faucher (15-3-1) the tournament's Most Outstanding Player honors after a 26-save outing in the championship tilt.

Despite only the one goal, the game was not without its drama. The Franklin Pierce penalty kill -- which finished the season at 89.9% (107-for-119), a number that is somehow good for only fourth-best of the program's nine full seasons -- got a workout in protecting the lead over the final 50 minutes of the contest. The Ravens killed off a trio of penalties after Kison's goal in the first, took care of two more in the second, and were called on twice more in the first half of the third period.

Franklin Pierce managed to hold third-seeded Saint Anselm to just 26 shots on the night, despite the plethora of power-play opportunities. In fact, the Hawks piled up nearly half their shots (12 of 26) while they had the advantage, and were limited to just 14 shots otherwise. The Ravens piled up 18 blocked shots along the way, to help keep the pressure off Faucher in the crease. Caban and graduate student Marissa Massaro (Brockton, Mass.) led the effort with five blocks apiece.

The Ravens put on a clinic in the closing minutes, when Saint Anselm was trying to get junior goaltender Allie Kelley to the bench for the extra attacker. The Hawks called their timeout with 2:11 still to play, but sophomore Geno Hendrickson (Warroad, Minn.) won the ensuing faceoff in the Saint Anselm end, and Franklin Pierce went to work. The Ravens put three shots on target over the next minute and kept Kelley largely planted in the crease. The Hawks only finally got her to the bench when Franklin Pierce called its timeout ahead of a defensive-zone draw with just 13 seconds to play.

By then, it was too late. Caban mixed in one final blocked shot in the dying seconds for good measure, before the Ravens came streaming off the bench in celebration.

Kelley (15-13-2) was the odd-woman out when Faucher staked claim to the All-Tournament Team's goaltender spot. The Saint Anselm netminder posted 51 saves against 52 shots in a losing effort in the title game, which followed on the heels of a 44-save outing in Friday night's 3-1 semifinal win over LIU.

Joining Faucher on the All-Tournament Team from Franklin Pierce were Kison, who had added an empty-net goal on Friday night, as well as Caban and graduate student Katerina Dajia (Aurora, Ontario), who blocked five and seven shots, respectively, on the weekend.

Saint Anselm was represented on the All-Tournament Team by seniors Erin Meyers and Kelly Golini. Golini scored in both the first round and semifinals, and mixed in an assist along the way, while Meyers had a goal and two assists in the tournament.

Not to be lost in the trophy celebrations, the win was the 22^nd of the season for Franklin Pierce (22-9-1), which established a new program record. Saint Anselm concluded its campaign at 16-13-3.