Box Score

HARRISVILLE, R.I. – Sophomore Frank Butler (East Haven, Conn.) scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season with 14 seconds remaining in regulation to help the Nichols College men's ice hockey team salvage a 5-5 tie with Southern New Hampshire University in non-conference action Wednesday night at Levy Rink.

Senior Rick Batenburg (Loveland, Colo.) scored his first collegiate goal while sophomore Sean Fleming (Easthampton, N.J.) dished out a pair of assists as the Bison moved to 6-1-2 with the draw. Sophomore and reigning Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast Player of the Week Tyler Beasley (Indianapolis, Ind.) potted his sixth of the season to put Nichols in front 4-1 at 14:29 of the second period.

Sophomore Anthony Laperriere (Winchendon, Mass.) tallied a goal and two assists to lead the Penmen (7-3-1), who also saw classmates Joe Collins (Mansfield, Mass.) score his team-leading 12th of the season and Jim Gabrione (Boca Raton, Fla.) net his seventh.

After Batenburg opened the scoring 6:47 into the first, sophomore Paul Prescott (Oakdale, Minn.) netted the second goal for the Bison with 47 seconds left to send the Bison into the intermission with a 2-0 lead. He received a pass from junior defenseman Kyle Shapiro (Ambler, Pa.), broke in alone and tucked the puck under the pad of Penman senior goalie Tyler Holske (Attleboro, Mass.).

After a goal midway through the second period by the Penman cut their deficit to 2-1, freshman Sean Swansen (Salem, N.H.) took a pass from junior Mike Schwartz (Long Beach, N.Y.), then maneuvered through the defense and put it in the back of the net to give Nichols a 3-1 lead. Freshman Louis Abounader (Montreal, Quebec) was also credited assist on the play. Beasley's marker at 14:29 off a feed from Fleming pushed the Bison lead to 4-1. The Penmen scored the next four goals - one in the second and three in the third - to take a 5-4 lead with 4:52 remaining.

"I thought the first 20 minutes was the best hockey we played all season," said Nichols head coach Kevin Swallow. "We kind of let up in the last two periods, but hopefully we can learn from this and take it into our game next week."

Sophomore Alex Larson (Madison, Ala.) – who was named Tournament MVP of the Worcester City Shootout Championship over the weekend – made 30 saves for Nichols. Holske turned aside 29 shots for SNHU.

Nichols hosts Franklin Pierce next Wednesday at 8:10 p.m. The Penmen head to Springfield, Mass. for a 4:40 p.m. game on Saturday.