BURRILLVILLE, R.I. (11/11/23) – It took five rounds of a shootout to decide the winner on Saturday evening from June Rockwell Levy Rink as the Nichols College men's hockey team and the Western New England University Golden Bears batted in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play. The Bison lost 2-1 in a shootout.
Freshman
CJ Zezima was the lone goal scorer for the Bison. The goal was his first collegiate goal. Classmate
Ryan O'Donnell tallied the assist on the play. Junior
Tyler Bost earned he start in goal and was fantastic, making 27 saves in the effort.
Nichols opened the scoring at the 13:44 mark of the first period. O'Donnell intercepted a cross ice pass in the offensive zone and dished the pass to Zezima who finished with a wrist shot for his first collegiate goal and gave Nichols a 1-0 lead.
Western New England answered back on the power-play with just over a minute remaining the first period to even the score at 1-1. Neither team was able to find the difference maker in the game and the game went to extra time.
In 3 on 3 overtime Nichols dominated play included earning a 4-3 pow-play chance but were unable to sneak a shot past Anthony Aureliano, who was excellent for the Golden Bears. Nichols out shot WNEU 51-28 for the game but remained tied at 1-1 after overtime.
It was on the shootout, both teams hit the post in the first three rounds. Western New England scored to take the lead in round five and Nichols needed an answer to keep the shootout going. The Bison were unable to score, resulting in Western New England taking the extra CCC point with the shoot out win.
Nichols went 0-6 on the power-play and 7-8 killing penalties in the game. Nichols also controlled the draw winning 47 of 86 draws in the loss.
Nichols (1-4-0, 1-3-0 CCC) will hit the road and travel to #15 Curry College on Friday, November 17. Puck drop from Canton Ice House is set for 7 p.m.
