WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (11/10/23) – The Western New England University Golden Bears scored four times in the third period to secure a 6-3 win over the Nichols College men's hockey team on Friday evening from Olympia Ice Center in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play.

With the loss the Bison drop to 1-3-0, 1-2-0 in CCC play. Senior Dylan McMahon, junior Nathan Carl, and sophomore Jack Lee all scored for the Bison. Juniors Gabe Temple and Kaiden Scott each tallied assists in the effort.

Penalties plagued the Bison, with the visitors making seven trips to the box I the loss. The Golden Bears scored three power-play goals in the game. Western New England opened the scoring less then two minutes into the contest to jump out to a 1-0 lead. They doubled their lead with a power-play goal at the 5:15 mark of the first. Nichols trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.

The Bison responded nicely in the second frame. McMahon got the scoring started with a breakaway from the blue line in and beat the net minder with a deke at the crease and scored to cut into the lead. Lee pulled the Bison even with less then a minute remaining in the period. Temple made an excellent pass to Scott who delivered a great one touch pass to Lee, who then buried the shot into the net for a 2-2 game.

With the game tied 2-2 headed to the third period, it was the Golden Bears once again taking the lead with a power-play goal. They extended the lead to 4-2 with another power-play goal 1:20 later, this goal was the eventual game winner. Wester New England scored again, making it 5-3.

Carl scored for the Bison to pull them back within two with 2:57 remaining in the game. Carl held a clear in at the line and sent a wrist shot through traffic in from that found the top corner over the goaltender's shoulder.

Western New England scored on the empty net to seal the game and win 6-3 over Nichols. The Bison went 0-3 on the power-play and 4-7 on the penalty-kill in the loss. Senior Mathias Backstrom made 31 saves in the loss for Nichols.

The Bison will return to wrap up the weekend series with the Golden Bears on Saturday afternoon from June Rockwell Levy Rink. Puck drop is slated for 4:40 p.m.