HARRISVILLE, R.I. – Sophomore Mathias Backstrom stopped all 24 shots he faced to earn his first collegiate shutout in Nichols College's 3-0 whitewash of Western New England University Monday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's ice hockey action at Levy Rink.

Junior Austan Bellefeuille and freshman Nathan Carl scored first-period goals, and senior Petr Miko added an insurance marker in the third as the Bison (5-11-1, 4-11-0 CCC) won for the third time in their last four outings. In the process, they extended their unbeaten streak against the Golden Bears to 11 (10-0-1) and improved to 39-31-7 against the in-state rivals.

Nichols outshot the Golden Bears (4-12-2, 2-11-1 CCC) by a 51-24 margin – including 19-7 in the opening stanza. Freshman Kaiden Scott collected a pair of assists for Nichols while senior captain Curtis Carlson also added an assist, giving him eight points in his last six games (4-4-8).