Box Score HARRISVILLE, R.I. – The 14th-ranked Nichols College men's hockey team defeated Western New England College, 7-0, in the regular-season finale for both teams Sunday afternoon at June Rockwell Levy Rink. With the win, Nichols College clinched the ECAC Northeast regular season title with a 16-1 conference record and a 22-3-0 overall ledger, a program record for wins in a season. Western New England wraps up the season at 3-20-2 overall and 3-12-2 in conference play.
As the number one seed in the upcoming ECAC Northeast tournament, Nichols will host the number eight seed on Saturday, February 28th for a quarterfinal round game at Levy Rink at 7:45 p.m.
Sophomore Matt Sayer (Lowell, Mass.) paced the Bison with four points on a pair of goals and two assists, while Zeke Costello (Shelby Township, Mich.) registered two goals and a helper. Will Munson (Corona, Calif.) netted a goal and an assist, while Cole Ruwe (Pekin, Ill.), Ryan Gervais (Chicago, Ill.), Andrew Ella (Schomberg, Ont.) and JoJo Bojanowski (Washington Township, Mich.) all had two assists each.
After a first period featured back-and-forth action and a combined 13 shots on net, Nichols rattled off four second period goals – including a pair of power-play markers -- amidst a 21-4 shot advantage. Costello got the Bison on the board at the 6:18 mark when he batted in a rebound off a low-angle shot from Bojanowski.
Nichols potted the next three in a span of 3:38 to take a 4-0 lead, first when Matt Roberts (Merrimac, Mass.) was waiting at the back door to one-time a cross-crease pass from Ella at 13:15. Sayer followed with his first of the night, on the power play, 2:10 later, with assists from Gervais and Ruwe.
First-year forward Brett Englebright (Pekin, Ill.) capped the period's scoring at 16:53 when he finished off a two-on-one with Munson, depositing the puck into an open left side of the net. Ruwe picked up the second assist with a quick breakout pass while on the Bison's third power play of the frame.
Nichols added three more in the third period, with Costello and Sayer scoring just 18 seconds apart to build the Bison's cushion to six goals before Munson capped the game's scoring with his 13th goal of the season with 1:07 left to play.
Costello connected on a breakaway for his ninth goal of the season at 7:14 and helped Sayer pick up his team-leading 15th tally of the year by connecting with Bojanowski, who found Sayer at the netfront for a backhanded flip that got past WNEC netminder Justin Richards (Somers, Conn.)
Richards shouldered the loss with 36 saves, some of which were spectacular, including a pair of breakaway glove saves in the third period. Keith Fink (Easton, Md.) finished with 14 saves in his second shutout of the season.
Prior to the game, Nichols honored its six-member senior class that has been key in turning around the Bison men's hockey program that endured 26-straight losing seasons prior to their arrival: Ruwe, Gervais, Fink, Anthony Monte (Chicago, Ill.), Jeff Bieber (Littleton, Colo.) and Glenn Cacaro (Sioux Falls, S.D.). Prior to this class arriving on campus in 2005, the Bison had never qualified for the ECAC Northeast playoffs, and now as seniors, the class has guided the Bison to a program-record 22 wins, a regular-season conference title and for the first time in program history, a national ranking.
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