Box Score

HARRISVILLE, R.I. – Freshman Matt Rasamowicz (Tyngsboro, Mass.) scored his first collegiate goal midway through the third period to lift the Nichols College men's ice hockey team to a 4-3 win over defending Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast champion Wentworth Saturday night at Levy Rink.

The Bison exploded for three goals in a span of 4:28 in the second period to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead and pick up their third win of the season (3-0-1, 2-0-1 ECACNE) and second in their last three tries against the Leopards (2-4-0, 1-2-0 ECACNE). Sophomore and defending ECAC Northeast Rookie of the Year Tyler Beasley (Indianapolis, Ind.) registered a goal and an assist while classmate Alex Larson (Madison, Ala.) – named ECAC Northeast Goalie of the Week on Monday – made 26 saves to move to 3-0-1 on the season.

Nichols received a great scoring opportunity less than four minutes into the contest when WIT sophomore Dan Szerlip (Newton, Mass.) received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for hitting from behind. Unfortunately, the Bison mustered only two shots on goal, both of which were turned aside by sophomore goalie Joel Miller (Calgary, Alberta). 

The Leopards used the momentum gained from the PK to take a 1-0 lead at 12:22. Senior captain Andrew Yarber (Livonia, Mich.) collected a loose puck in front of Larson, spun and wristed it over Larson's glove hand and into the top right corner for his third marker of the season.

After being outshot 11-6 in the opening period, the Bison regrouped during the intermission and not only outshot the visitors 10-9 in the second, but also outscored them 3-0. Junior Brett Jackson (Larchmont, N.Y.) netted his third power-play goal of the season at 4:51 to even the score at one. He took a feed from freshman Sean Swansen (Salem, N.H.) from the right circle, went to his forehand, deked around Miller, and roofed the shot. Sophomore Sean Fleming (Easthampton, N.J.) picked up the second assist on the goal.

Less than two minutes later, senior captain Greg Strootman (Aston, Pa.) passed it over to junior Joe Sposit (Cleveland, Ohio), who deked between two defenders before lifting a shot over Miller's blocker for his first of the season. Beasley then pushed the Nichols lead to 3-1 with a great individual effort. He took a quick feed from sophomore Frank Butler (East Haven, Conn.) in the left corner, skated down the goal line towards Miller's crease, faked behind a defender, and cradled the puck on his forehand. After waiting Miller out, his shot appeared to deflect off Miller and into the top right corner of the net. Sophomore Paul Prescott (Oakdale, Minn.) picked up the second assist.

The Leopards had a golden opportunity to get back in the game early in the third as they had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:08, but only got one shot on net. Later in the period, however, WIT pulled to within a goal at 3-2 when senior defenseman Lawton McCracken (Colborne, Ontario) picked up his first goal of the season. Junior Curtis Heinz (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and freshman Devin Smith (Tewksbury, Mass.) were credited with assists on the goal, which came at 9:29.

Rasamowicz answered just 1:49 later with what proved to be the game-winner. Butler cradled the puck along the left boards, then slid a pass to Beasley in the left circle, who hit Rasamowicz in stride with a pass as he was skating in from the right point. His wrister beat Miller over his glove hand.

Wentworth climbed to within a goal one more time when freshman Matthew Heise (Kirkland, Quebec) tallied his first of the season with 2:20 remaining. Following timeouts by each team, the Leopards had three shots on goal in the final minute of the contest, but Larson kept them all out en route to his 13th career win.

"The sign of a good hockey team is being able to battle through some adversity, and we were able to do that tonight," said Nichols head coach Kevin Swallow. "The first period was definitely not our best period of hockey. They came out ready to play and took it to us. We battled back and played an awesome second period. I also thought we played a great third period. We got off our heels and started taking it to them. We established our forecheck and worked them low in the second period, and it was good Nichols hockey."

Nichols finished the evening a 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and has now killed off all 18 of its opponents power plays. Said Swallow, "Our penalty kill is rolling right now. We have a lot of veteran guys back who killed a lot of penalties for us last year. They know the system well and are executing it very strongly. We haven't allowed a power-play goal in our first four games, so I'm happy with that."

Miller recorded 23 saves as he slipped to 1-3-0 on the season. The Leopards closed the contest with a 29-27 edge in shots.

Nichols returns to action on Tuesday with an 8:40 p.m. contest at Suffolk. The Leopards travel to Springfield, Mass. for a 7:10 p.m. contest with Springfield on Thursday.