Seahawks top Bison 3-2; move into first place in CCC

SEAHAWK MEN'S ICE HOCKEY RESULTS
Salve Regina 3, Nichols 2
Portsmouth Abbey - Portsmouth, R.I.
Saturday, December 1, 2018

Summary
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. - The Salve Regina University men's ice hockey team defeated visiting Nichols College 3-2 in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Saturday night to move into first place in the conference.

Series and Streaks
The Seahawks have won two in a row in the series, but the Bison still own a 21-16-4 record all-time.

Three Stars of the Game

1. Salve Regina sophomore John McLean (North Andover, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal on the powerplay in the third period.
2. Salve Regina senior Evan Schmidbauer (San Diego, Calif.) scored on the powerplay to tie the game 2-2 in the third period.
3. Salve Regina senior Blake Wojtala (Trenton, Mich.) made 28 saves to improve to 7-1-1 in net on the season.

Key Stat of the Game
Salve Regina held Nichols to 1-for-5 on the powerplay, including a 5-on-3 and 6-on-4 advantage for the Bison.

Turning Point
The Seahawks converted back-to-back powerplay opportunities to begin the third period to go from down one to leading by one. First Evan Schmidbauer cleaned up a rebound in front and flipped it to the back of the net to tie the game 2-2. Then John McClean scored on a snapshot from the left side, sneaking the puck past the shoulder of netminder Brett Epp (Edmonton, Alberta) to give the Seahawks a 3-2 lead.

Quick Hits

• Eric Lipa (Lockport, N.Y.) started the scoring by chipping home a rebound in front to give the Seahawks a 1-0 first period lead.
• The Bison answered with two goals in the second period to take the lead. First Justin Perron (Thetford Mines, Quebec) scored on an off-angle shot from the right side that pinballed its way to the back of the net. Then Hogan Davidson (Duluth, Minn.) snuck in through the backdoor on the powerplay to tip a pass past Wojtala to give the Bison the lead.
• The Bison pulled Epp with 2:25 to go while on a powerplay to gain a 6-on-4 advantage, but could not find the back of the net. The net remained empty after the penalty expired and the Seahawks were able to kill of the remaining seconds of the game to preserve the comeback win.
• Brett Epp made 23 saves for the Bison to fall to 3-3 in net on the season.
• Salve Regina went 2-for-4 on the powerplay while the Bison went 1-for-5.
• The Bison held a 30-26 shot advantage.

Next Up
Salve Regina (8-1-1, 6-1-1 CCC) travels to Michigan for a weekend series with Adrian College beginning on Friday, December 7 at 7:05 p.m. Nichols (6-4-0, 6-2-0 CCC) hosts Saint Michaels on December 8 at 4:40 p.m.