NORTH KINGSTON, R.I. – The Nichols College men's ice hockey team saw its season come to an end with a 4-3 defeat to Salve Regina University in the NCAA Quarterfinals Saturday night at Boss Ice Arena.
 
Junior Matthew Menta, along with sophomores Filip Virgili and Vincent Crivello, scored for the Bison, who close the season with a record of 18-9-3. The Bison won their third conference championship in five season with an improbable run through the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) playoff bracket, scoring road wins against Curry (4-3), the Seahawks (5-4), and the University of New England (8-3). Last Saturday, Nichols defeated Fitchburg State 3-1 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Seahawks (21-5-2) advance to the Frozen Four in Lake Placid, N.Y. next weekend.
 
Salve Regina opened the scoring just 12 seconds into the contest when freshman John McLean's long wrister deflected off a body and past senior netminder Colin Brennan. The Bison knotted the score at one at 11:01 on Crivello's team-leading 16th tally of the season with assists to sophomore Hogan Davidson and junior Ben Campbell.
 
After the Seahawks took a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal by freshman Erik Udahl at 15:53, the Bison struck back just 16 seconds later to tie it at two. Senior captain Scott Cuthrell cradled the puck on his backhand through the slot, and Menta banged in his rebound for his eight of the campaign. Sophomore J.B. Baker collected the second apple on the tally.
 
In the second, Salve Regina scored with 1:55 remaining in the stanza as freshman Frank Sullivan ripped a wrist shot from the left circle past Brennan. Virgili tied the game on the PP with a wrister from the top of the left circle at 7:02 before Sullivan's second marker of the night with 4:21 remaining gave the Seahawks the win.
 
Brennan finished the evening with 30 saves while junior Blake Wojtala stopped 23 Bison shots. Salve Regina outshot the Bison 34-26.
 
All-Time Series
Today's contest marks the 40th all-time meeting between Nichols College and Salve Regina University. With the win, the Seahawks finished the 2017-18 campaign 3-1-0 against the Bison but trail the all-time series, 15-21-1.