Hockey Falls to Nichols, 4-3

Box Score

BOSTON, Mass. --  Junior Matt Roberts' (Merrimac, Mass.) power play goal with 5:33 remaining lifted Nichols to a 4-3 ECAC Northeast ice hockey victory over Suffolk Saturday afternoon at Walter Brown Arena.

Roberts converted a feed from sophomore Andrew Ella (Schomberg, Ont.) that came on the visiting Bison's (9-6-2, 3-3 ECAC Northeast) eighth extra-man opportunity of the contest, and Nichols killed off a pair of penalties in the final 4:02 of action to claim its triumph.  The Bison grabbed a 2-0 first period advantage on the strength of markers off the sticks of sophomore Kevin Richardson (Temecula, Calif.) and freshman Josh Moles (Fort Wayne, Ind.), but the host Rams (6-9-2, 2-3-1 ECAC Northeast) evened matters with a pair of tallies that came just 2:27 apart early in the second stanza off the sticks of freshman Robbie Donahue (West Bridgewater, Mass.) and senior Pat Welch (Dorchester, Mass.).  Junior Will Munson (Corona, Calif.) gave Nichols the lead again with a goal that came 1:47 into the final period, but Suffolk evened matters less than five minutes later on freshman Jason Molle's (Stoneham, Mass.) power play marker, setting up Roberts' heroics for the Bison.

Munson finished with a goal and an assist in the triumph for Nichols, who also received a pair of assists from freshman Zach Kohn (Hartland, Wis.), while senior Nick Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.), junior Zach Barron (St. Louis, Mo.) and sophomores J. Andrew Wein (Barnegat, N.J.) and Nate Linard (Brighton, Mich.) recorded single helpers in the setback for Suffolk.

Sophomore Jacob Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) picked up the win in goal for the Bison with a 24-save effort, with 20 of those stops coming over the final 40 minutes of action, while junior Jeff Rose (Collinsville, Conn.) made 27 saves in the setback for the Rams (including 14 in the opening period alone) as Nichols outshot Suffolk by a 31-27 margin for the afternoon.

Suffolk hosts Becker in an ECAC Northeast outing on Tuesday evening at Walter Brown Arena beginning at 6:00 p.m., while Nichols hosts Western New England in an ECAC Northeast match-up on Wednesday evening in Harrisville, R.I. beginning at 7:00 p.m.