Bison charge past Seahawks, 6-3

HARRISVILLE, R.I. – Nichols College picked up its season-high third win in a row with a 6-3 triumph at home over visiting Salve Regina in an ECAC Northeast men's ice hockey contest Wednesday night at Levy Rink. The Bison improve to 6-11-1 on the season and 4-3-0 in the conference as the Seahawks dip to 4-13 overall and 1-6 in the league.

The first period ended in a stalemate with each side finding the back of the net once. Junior Zach Kohn (Delafield, Wisc.) forwarded the puck to classmate Danny Greiner (Columbus, Ohio) for a shot from the top of the slot. First-year Louie Educate (Chicago, Ill.) then fired home the rebound at 4:04 into the contest. With 5:04 left in the opening period, junior Jacob Hutt (Menlo Park, Calif.) knocked home a low shot from between the circles with help from classmate Anthony Birbilis (Katonah, N.Y.).

It took until 3:10 into the second period for the Bison to regain the lead on the first of two shorthanded goals. Greiner took a shot on to glove side to enable senior Andrew Ella (Schomberg, Ontario) to poke in the rebound. At 11:52 rookie Joe Sposit (Cleveland, Ohio) pushed the Bison lead to 3-1 as he netted a backhander on a breakaway. Late in the period, sophomore Greg Strootman (Aston, Pa.) sent a feed to first-year Kyle Shapiro (Ambler, Pa.) who eluded a defender for the goal with 46 ticks left until the intermission.

Salve Regina climbed back into the game with 1:03 expired in the third stanza. Junior Mike Cenisio (Milan, Italy) took a shot from between the circles off a feed from freshman John Scorcia (Hudson, Fla.) to find its way through on the blocker side. Just under six and a half minutes later Kohn dished the puck to Educate who carried the puck down the left wing boards and scored the backhanded marker. With 3:56 remaining in the frame, Rookie Tyler Marek (Phoenix, Ariz.) sent a pass across the crease for the goal by Strootman. Sposit would get an assist on the power play tally. An even seven seconds remained as Salve netted the final score of the evening. Sophomore David Mantenuto (Waltham, Mass.) and classmate Trey Rasmussen (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) each had a pass to help setup the power play goal by rookie Kenny Craig (Manchester, N.H.).

Each netminder stopped 32 shots as Nichols senior Jacob Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) earned his third win in a row and sixth overall and junior Mike McDonald (Whitby, Ontario) suffered the defeat.

Both the Bison and Seahawks had five power play opportunities as Salve Regina capitalized on two while Nichols scored on one.

Nichols completes a three-game homestand on Saturday in the early game of a men's and women's doubleheader.  The Bison will faceoff against Western New England at 4:40 p.m.  Salve Regina heads to Boston, Mass. to take on Wentworth at 4:00 p.m., also on Saturday.

Courtesy of Nichols Sports Information