Henniker, N.H. – New England College's Bill McGinnis netted a hat-trick and picked up an assist leading the Pilgrims past the visiting Nichols College Bison 10-0 Saturday evening.  With the win the Pilgrims remain undefeated on the season improving to 3-0-0.  The loss is the first of the season for the Bison who fall to 7-1-0 on the season.

The two teams would battle through much of the opening period scoreless before NEC's McGinnis would net his first goal of the evening assisted by Jeff Armando and Alex Muse at the 16:28 mark. The Pilgrims would hold the 12-6 edge in shots in the opening period but the lone NEC goal would be the only score of the period as the Pilgrims would head into the first intermission up 1-0.

McGinnis would net his second goal of the evening early in the second period as the Pilgrims would score their first short-handed goal of the season at the 6:57 mark.  NEC would quickly extend their lead to 4-0 scoring two goals within a minute, including a power-play goal by Mark Ehl and a goal by Alex Muse. 

The Pilgrims would head into the final period with the 4-0 lead and tack on six unanswered goals in the final stanza cruising to the 10-0 victory. Six different Pilgrims scored in the final period, including power-play goals by Ehl and McGinnis and a short-handed goal by Olli Kalliosaari.

In addition to McGinnis, the Pilgrims were led by Mark Ehl who scored two goals and had an assist and Olli Kalliosaari who netted a goal and dished out two assists. NEC's Jeff Armando and Trevor Turner each finished with three assists.

Leading the way for Nichols College was Cole Ruwe (Pekin, Ill.) who finished with six shots on the evening.

Picking up the win in net for the Pilgrims was Aaron Harvey, who finished with 28 saves and picked up an assist.  Seeing the bulk of the time in net for the Bison was first-year netminder Mike Davis (Monroe, Mich.) who recorded 20 saves on the evening and shouldered the loss before giving way to senior Keith Fink (Easton, Md.) who made four saves and allowed three goals in the final 15 minutes.

Nichols is back in action on December 3 in a 6 p.m. ECAC Northeast game at Plymouth State. 

Box Score

Story courtesy NEC Sports Information