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South Easton, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College Hawks are the preseason favorite to win the Northeast-10 Ice Hockey Regular Season Championship, as voted by the conference’s head coaches. They received 24 points with four first-place votes.

Coming in second are the Purple Knights of Saint Michael’s College who received 21 points and picked up the final two first-place votes. Southern New Hampshire University (18) and Stonehill College (13) finished third and fourth, respectively.

Assumption College (9) and Franklin Pierce University (5) round out the bottom of the poll in fifth and sixth place, respectively.

Last year, Saint Anselm claimed the Regular Season Championship, while Saint Michael’s won their second straight Northeast-10 Championship, 3-2, defeating Stonehill College.

The 2009-10 season gets underway Nov. 3 with Stonehill College taking on Western New England College. The first conference contest of the season is on Wednesday, Nov. 17 with Southern New Hampshire traveling to Franklin Pierce. The 2009-10 Northeast-10 Championship will begin Saturday, Feb. 27 and will conclude with the championship game on Saturday, March 6.

With 16 member institutions the Northeast-10 shares the distinction of being the largest Division II conference in the country along with the PSAC and WVIAC. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.

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2009 Northeast-10 Ice Hockey Preseason Coaches' Poll

1. Saint Anselm (4) - 24
2. Saint Michael's (2) - 21
3. Southern New Hampshire - 18
4. Stonehill - 13
5. Assumption - 9
6. Franklin Pierce - 5

() - First Place Vote