GORHAM, Maine – The No. 6 seed University of Southern Maine Huskies will be taking on the No. 3 seed Salve Regina University Seahawks at 2:00 pm on Saturday in the first round of the 2025 New England Hockey Conference Championship Tournament. The game will be held at St. George's Ice Arena in Middletown, R.I. The teams just finished a two-game series over the weekend with the Seahawks taking both games.
 
Southern Maine finished the regular season with a record of 11-12-2 and went 8-8-2 in conference play. Senior Ally Stymiest (Moncton, New Brunswick/Mount Academy) and junior Olivia Stewart (Fredericton, New Brunswick/Mount Academy) tied for the most points on the team with 15 each. Stymiest ended the regular season fifth in the conference in goals with 12 and also had three assists. Her five power-play goals are tied for the most in the conference. Stewart leads the team in assists with 10 and is tied for ninth in the conference. The junior forward also has five goals this year with two of them being overtime game-winners.
 
Junior Saige MacLeod (Dryden, Ontario) has been another offensive force for the Huskies with eight goals and six assists for 14 total points. Sophomores Ellie Eigner (Bowling Green, Ohio/ South Lyon East) and Shannon Murphy (Pembroke, Mass./Brewster Academy) have also played great in the second half of the season. Five of Eigner's six goals have come since January 1 and Murphy has two goals and four assists in 2025.
 
Freshmen centers Makenzie Woodford (Cornwall, Prince Edward Island/ Mount Academy) and Joely Power (Clarenville, Newfoundland/Mount Academy) are both having solid rookie campaigns with six assists each. Power also has a goal this season.
 
Senior Amelie St-Amant (Ottawa, Ontario/ Ontario Hockey Academy) had anchored the Southern Maine defense with an astonishing 58 blocked shots while also contributing a career-best seven assists on offense. Senior Jess MacLean (Red Point, Nova Scotia) and junior Audrey Donahue (Timberlea, Nova Scotia/ Kimball Union Academy) also have been impactful defensemen. MacLean has six assists this season and has blocked 23 shots while Donahue is second behind St-Amant in blocked shots with 29.
 
The Huskies have relied on fifth-year senior Haley McKim (Moncton, New Brunswick/Mount Academy) in goal and the three-time NEHC Goaltender of the Year has continued to excel between the pipes. McKim ranks second in the conference in saves with 690 and is third in save percentage at .944. This season McKim has broken the program record for career wins with 48 and became the seventh woman in NCAA Division III history to reach 3,000 career saves.
 
Scouting the Seahawks: Salve Regina's Taylor Hannafan has the top save percentage in the conference at .953. In the recent series with the Huskies, she made 40 saves over the two games while allowing just one goal. The Seahawks have six players with 10 or more points led by Riley Esposito with 18 from 11 goals and seven assists. Esposito tallied two goals and two assists in the sweep of the Huskies. Emily Wroblewski is tied with Esposito for the most goals on the team and also has six assists. Samantha McKenzie is another Seahawk who boosted her point total in the weekend series with three total assists and her 16 points rank third on the team. Emma Pereira is Salve Regina's top producing defenseman with 11 points from four goals and seven assists.
 
2025 NEHC Tournament Schedule
Quarterfinals - Saturday, February 22
#8 Albertus Magnus (12 pts) at #1 Norwich 51 pts) at 3pm
#7 Castleton (23 pts) at #2 Elmira (42 pts) at 7pm
#6 Southern Maine (24 pts) at #3 Salve Regina (40 pts) at 2pm
#5 William Smith (30 pts) at #4 UMass Boston (31 pts) at 7pm
 
Semifinals - Saturday, March 1
Finals - Saturday, March 8