Bison edge Seahawks, 5-3

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. - Nichols College killed eight Salve Regina University power-play opportunities and the Bison scored a short-handed goal to finish with a 5-3 win over the Seahawks at the Portsmouth Abbey in ECAC Northeast men's ice hockey action.

Junior forward JoJo Bojanowski [Township, Mich.] scored the game's first goal, his first of the season, with assists from Drew Palmer [Chelmsford, Mass.] and Dustin Skinner [Andover, Minn.]. Two minutes later in the first period, the Bison had a 2-0 lead when freshman defenseman Bryan Gill [New Hyde Park, N.Y.] tallied with assists from Skinner and Zach Hendrickson [Farmingdale, N.Y.].

Salve Regina (1-2-0; 0-2-0 ECAC) had its third power-play opportunity four minutes into the second period, but it was Bison senior forward Eric Cremer [Chelsea, Mich.] who registered his first goal of the season to put Nichols up 3-0.

Before the Bison could run away with the contest, the Seahawks scored a pair of goals in the seventh minute of the middle period. Freshman forward Mackenzie Swartz [Aurora, Colo.] scored his first collegiate goal at 6:24 and junior forward Brett Pimental [E. Falmouth, Mass.] scored his second of the season 16 seconds later to send the game into the third period with the Bison up just 3-2.

"I thought we played tough, but we didn't put 60 minutes together," said Seahawk head coach Andy LeColst. "First 20 minutes we came out slow. We made it 3-2 and we didn't capitalize on a number of power-play opportunities."

Nichols (2-1-1; 1-1-1 ECAC) got its lead back to a three-goal margin seven minutes into the third period with successive goals from junior forward Will Munson [Corona, Calif.] and freshman forward Zach Cohn [Hartland, Wis.].

Last year's leading Seahawk scorer Ryan Petersen [Shrewsbury, N.J.] potted his first goal of the season to make the final score, 5-3. Freshman goaltender Ryan Casey [Pelham, N.H.] made 13 saves for his second victory of the season while his counterparts, Ben Bradley [Newburyport, Mass.] and Bobby Bayliss [West Haven, Conn.], made 16 and four saves, respectively, for the Seahawks.

"They're good, they're young, and they'll be in the mix at the end," added LeColst about the Bison.

Salve Regina breaks for Thanksgiving before traveling to Maine for games with Bowdoin and Colby Colleges next weekend. Nichols plays at Stonehill College on Tuesday (7 p.m.).