Seahawks best Bison in thriller to advance to National Semifinals in Lake Placid

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SEAHAWK MEN'S ICE HOCKEY RESULTS
Salve Regina 4, Nichols 3
Kingston, Rhode Island - Boss Arena
Saturday, March 17, 2018

Summary
The Salve Regina University men's ice hockey team won a thrilling contest with Nichols College by a 4-3 final in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament to punch its ticket to Lake Placid, N.Y., and the Division III Frozen Four.

Series and Streaks
The Bison own a 21-15-4 record in the all-time series, however the Seahawks went 3-1-0 against Nichols this season.

Three Stars of the Game

1. Salve Regina freshman Frankie Sullivan (Fairfield, Conn.) scored twice, including the game winner.
2. Salve Regina freshman John McClean (North Andover, Mass.) was a physical force for the Seahawks and got the scoring started 32 seconds into the game. He also handed out an assist.
3. Salve Regina freshman Danny Eruzione (Winthrop, Mass.) handed out three assists in the game.

Key Stat of the Game
No team scored back-to-back goals in the game. The Bison tied the game three times, but ran out of time trying to find a fourth equalizer.

Turning Point
Danny Eruzione hustled down the ice, beating two Bison to the puck to cancel out icing, then found Paul Boutoussov (Dana Point, Calif.) who dished the puck to the point where Frankie Sullivan snapped home his second goal of the game to give the Seahawks a 4-3 lead with 4:21 left to play. The Bison withstood a number of Seahawk scoring changes of the final minutes and were able to pull the goalie for an extra skater in the final minute, but could not find the tying goal and the Seahawks ran the final second of the clock to walk away victorious.

Quick Hits

• Salve Regina opened the scoring just 12 seconds into the contest when freshman John McLean's long wrister deflected off a body and past senior netminder Colin Brennan (Chester, N.J.).
• The Bison knotted the score at one at 11:01 on  Vincent Crivello's team-leading 16th tally of the season.
• After the Seahawks took a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal by freshman Erik Udahl at 15:53, the Bison struck back just 16 seconds later to tie it at two. Senior captain Scott Cuthrell cradled the puck on his backhand through the slot, and Menta banged in his rebound for his eight of the campaign.
• In the second, Salve Regina scored with 1:55 remaining in the stanza as freshman Frank Sullivan ripped a wrist shot from the left circle past Brennan. Virgili tied the game on the PP with a wrister from the top of the left circle at 7:02 before Sullivan's second marker of the night with 4:21 remaining gave the Seahawks the win.
• Salve Regina went 1-for-3 on the powerplay while holding the Bison to 1-for-4 on the man advantage. The Seahawks faced three straight penalty kills in the third period. Allowing the one goal to tie the game at 3-3, but halting the following two chances to preserve a tie game.
• Blake Wojtala (Trenton, Mich.) made 23 saves in the victory to improve to 19-5-2 on the season.
• Brennan stopped 30 shots in the loss to fall to 12-7-3 between the pipes for the Bison.

Next Up

Salve Regina (21-5-2) advances to the NCAA Semifinals to face Wisconsin Stevens Point on March 23 at 3 p.m., in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Nichols finishes its season at 18-9-3.