NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – The 14th-ranked Nichols College men's hockey team set the program's record for wins in a season with its 21st victory of the season, a 3-1 triumph over UMass Dartmouth in ECAC Northeast action at the Stephan Hetland Memorial Arena Wednesday evening. With the Bison improve to 15-1-0 in conference play and with a win or a tie on Sunday against Western New England College, will claim the top seed in the ECAC Northeast playoffs. Nichols is 21-3-0 overall.

The Bison scored goals in each period  and took a 3-0 advantage before UMass Dartmouth (15-7-2, 12-3-1 ECAC) got on the scoreboard. Nichols finished 2-for-6 on the power play while holding the Corsairs 0-for-7 with the man advantage.

First-year forward Brett Englebright (Pekin, Ill.) got the Bison on the board as the clock wore down in the opening frame, picking up his sixth goal of the season on the power play off an assist from Will Munson (Corona, Calif.).

First-year forward Zach Hendrickson (Farmingdale, N.Y.) gave Nichols a two-goal cushion at 12:56 of the second period with his eighth goal of the season, connecting with Matt Roberts (Merrimac, Mass.).

Senior captain Cole Ruwe (Pekin, Ill.) potted a power-play tally, his fifth goal of the season) off an assist from classmate Ryan Gervais (Chicago, Ill.) just 17 seconds into the final period to put Nichols up, 3-0.

UMass Dartmouth was able to get on the scoreboard at 5:32 of the third, as Billy Manning put in his ninth goal of the season from Mike Owens and Shawn Manning.

First-year netminder Jacob Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) made  27 saves to improve to 6-1-0 on the season. Jon Dryjowicz-Burek made 26 saves in the loss.

Nichols hosts WNEC Sunday at 3:30 p.m. for Senior Day. The Bison will honor its six-member senior class prior to the game: Ruwe, Gervais, Glenn Cacaro (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Anthony Monte (Chicago, Ill.), Jeff Bieber (Littleton, Colo.) and Keith Fink (Easton, Md.).


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