Seahawks surge to 3-2 overtime victory over Bison

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (Saturday, January 27, 2024)--Salve Regina men's ice hockey and Nichols College duked it out for three periods of action, and thanks to Johnny Mulera's goal 29 seconds into overtime the Seahawks soared to a 3-2 CCC victory. 

The team honored 40 years of men's ice hockey at Salve Regina with a pregame ceremony and a ceremonial puck drop. Members from the 1984-85 team were welcomed back to the ice to be recognized.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Salve Regina 3, Nichols 3
Records: Salve Regina (13-5-2, 8-3-2 CCC), Nichols (5-12-3, 3-7-3 CCC)
All-Time Series: After yesterday and today's matchups Salve Regina is 18-19-3 since the 2007-08 season. 

BREAKDOWN: 

Coming off a victory yesterday, the Bison got right to it by gaining possession off the opening faceoff. However, it wasn't long before the Seahawks got redemption by earning the first goal of the evening. Logan Calder (From Garrett Szeremley) sent the puck flying into the Bisons' net at 4:54 into the evening. Nearing the end of the period, the Bison sent two skaters to the penalty box, the first for elbowing and the following for slashing. In a five on three situation the Bison dumped the puck out of their end. Salve Regina's Cayden Bailey came out of the net to receive the puck, but the Bison managed to get a hold of it and Gabe Temple netted the puck for a 1-1 game after 20 minutes. 

Still riding off the excitement of their win yesterday, the Bison got themselves ahead 2-1 just 2:32 into the second period with a shot from Nathan Carl. However, Salve Regina would not be left behind. Six minutes into period three Jonathan Hammel (from Walter Baumann and Joel Shoemaker) made it a 2-2, a tied game once again. The Bison and the Seahawks entered overtime for the second consecutive night, but this evening Salve Regina took control. Just 29 seconds in, Johnny Mulera took a slap shot from the left faceoff dot and it sailed high right into Nichols' net for a 3-2 win. 

THOUGHTS FROM COACH KLANN:

"For the place we are in the season right now, any way you can get a win is a win. Sometimes you're not going to get the balances, but tonight we found a way to get the win ultimately and get the two points. For us this time of year it's just finding a way to get through that. We are going to struggle sometimes, and Nichols played well, but for us we need to stay focused and keep digging to come out with a win. That's what we needed tonight.

This evening was a special night for the alumni. Seeing that many guys from the original team come out gave a little bit of a tear in my eye. I saw that every one of those guys [members of the 1984-85 inaugural team] had wet eyes. For them to go from a club to where we are now took a lot of people. They built the foundation of the Salve hockey program. To see all those guys come back and be that emotional over memories and being back at Salve shows that we have a strong tradition here and we want to keep going." -Head coach Zech Klann

Men's ice hockey celebrated the program's 40th anniversary tonight. Members of the 1984-85 team took the ice for a pregame ceremony and puck drop. Alumni, thank you for leading the way! Go Seahawks! pic.twitter.com/Kn9EOCiE5J

— Salve Regina Sports (@SalveAthletics) January 28, 2024

ON THE HORIZON: 

Next Friday, February 2, the Seahawks will host Curry College in a CCC contest at the Cabot-Harman Ice Center with a 7:30 p.m. start time.