HARRISVILLE, R.I. –  Junior Colin Brennan (Chester, N.J.) made 41 saves to backstop the Nichols College men's ice hockey team to a 3-1 win over the University of New England Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Levy Rink.
 
Junior Scott Cuthrell (Waterford, Mich.) collected a pair of assists and senior Michael Parnell (Roseville, Minn.) scored the game-winning, short-handed goal late in the second period for the Bison. Senior Sean Swansen (Salem, N.H.) and sophomore Matthew Menta (Lima, Pa.) also scored for Nichols.
 
Sophomore Dylan Bengtson (Coral Springs, Fla.) spoiled Brennan's shutout bid with his sixth of the year at 18:45 of the third with the goalie on the bench. The Nor'easters outshot the Bison 42-32.
 
Menta's third marker of the season 3:53 into the contest off a pass from classmate Ian Spencer (Hawthorne, N.J.) gave the Bison an early 1-0 lead. Parnell doubled the Bison lead with a shorty at 18:21 of the second period. Senior Rob Belger (Yorktown Heights, N.J.) picked up the primary assist on Parnell's second goal of the season while Cuthrell was credited with the secondary assist on both tallies.
 
In the third, freshman Ryan Hunter (Missisauga, Ontario) set up Swansen for his fifth of the season at 10:21 with the secondary assist going to freshman Hogan Davidson (Duluth, Minn.). Bengtson's goal was unassisted.
 
Freshman Tate Sproxton (Surrey, British Columbia) turned aside 29 shots to fell to 2-1-0 for the Nor'easters. Brennan, meanwhile, moved to 7-2-2 with the win. Both teams failed to score with the man advantage.
 
The contest marked the first at Levy Rink for UNE head coach Kevin Swallow, who guided the Bison to consecutive Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast Championships in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
 
All-Time Series
Today's contest marked the second all-time meeting between UNE and Nichols College. The series is now even at 1-1-0.
 
Next Games
Nichols (8-3-2, 6-1-2 CCC) – Wednesday, December 28 vs Royal Military College (exhibition), 6:40 p.m.
UNE (5-5-1, 5-3-1 CCC) – Saturday, January 7 vs U.S. Under 18 (exhibition), 7:00 p.m.