EVERETT, Mass. – Behind goals from three different goal scorers and 30 saves from junior netminder Mathias Backstrom, the Nichols men's hockey team skated away with a 3-1 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victory over Wentworth on Friday night at Allied Veterans Rink. The Bison now post a 7-13-0 (3-13-0 CCC) record while the Leopards dropped to 4-15-1 (2-13-1 CCC).
 
The Leopards drew first blood when Jacob Shankar beat Backstrom on the breakaway, tucking in a backhand shot just 9:44 into the contest.
 
Freshly out of the locker room at the first intermission, Quinn McCarthy buried a 2-on-0 opportunity on a feed from Luke Harvie in the low slot to tie the game at 1 at the 1:04 mark of the second. Later in the frame, Philip Bjorkman took a pass from Rocco Bianculli in the Bison defensive zone and flipped it out of and down the length of the ice. The bouncing puck would pass by a pair of sticks before trickling through the wickets of Wentworth goaltender Jack McGovern to put the visitors up 2-1 just over halfway through regulation.

The Leopards had their chances to tie it up in the third, but a Kacey O'Brien interference penalty would prove to be costly for the home team, as Conor Leonard skated into the zone with possession and fired a wrister from the right circle past McGovern on the powerplay to put the game on ice.
 
Harvie finished with a team-best +2 on the outing while Backstrom's 30 save performance pushed him over .500, as the Malmö, Sweden native now posts a 5-4 overall record on the season.
 
Nichols returns to home ice at Levy Rink on Saturday, February 4 when they play host to CCC opponent Suffolk at 4:40 p.m.