HARRISVILLE, R.I. (1/26/2024) – Junior
Nathan Carl played the role of hero on Friday night, with his overtime goal to push the Nichols College men's hockey team past Salve Regina University in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action. The Bison beat the Seahawks 3-2 in overtime from June Levy Rockwell Rink.
Carl scored his third goal of the season for the Bison. Junior
Kaiden Scott and freshman
Tristan Kimmen also scored for the Bison in the win. Sophomore
Jack Lee tallied two assists in the win, including an assist on the game winning goal. Senior
Sebastian Miedema, junior
Josh Dickson, sophomore
Brendan Schmidt and freshman
Zach Vandale all chipped in with helpers as well.
Nichols opened the scoring with just over one minute remaining in the period. Both teams traded chances and the Bison jumped all over the opportunity to grab the lead. Schmidt flicked the puck off of the glass and out of the defensive zone. Lee gathered in the bouncing puck and raced into the offensive zone on an odd man rush. He dropped off the puck to Kimmen who fired the wrist shot from the slot beat the net minder over the blocker for a 1-0 lead. The Kimmen goal was his first collegiate goal.
Nichols out shot Salve 12-8 in the first period and were 1-1 on the penalty kill after 20 minutes. The Seahawks turned the tide in the second period and capitalized on the opportunities to even the score at 1-1. The Seahawks forced a turnover in the Bison defensive zone 10 minutes later and grabbed a 2-1 lead with a shot that beat junior
Tyler Bost over his shoulder.
Nichols led the shots 29-19 through 40 minutes of action but trailed 2-1 entering the third period.
The third period flow continued to match the first two periods with each side trading chances, including the Bison hitting two posts and having a goal whipped off the board, due to goalie interference.
Nichols pulled even just five minutes into the third period, with the goal coming on the power-play. After winning the face off in the offensive zone, Dickson kicked the loose puck to Vandale, who turned to throw the puck on net and Scott grabbed a loose puck, sitting in the crease and fired the shot home, to tie the game 2-2. This was Scott's fourth goal of the season.
A pair of later game penalties forced the Bison to the penalty-kill and with the help of Bost making a couple of massive saves, with the Seahawks knocking on the doorstep. Nichols was awarded a power-play after a scrum at the end of the period.
60 minutes was not enough for Seahawks and Bison and played into overtime for the second time in as any games for Nichols. Both teams played 3 on 3 in overtime until Nichols killed the penalty and gained a 4 on 3 advantage in the extra period.
Miedema held in a clear attempt at the blue line and passed the shot off to Lee, who walked into the top of the far circle and fired a shot that was saved. Carl, one timed the rebound into the open goal and sealed the 3-2 conference win for the Bison.
Nichols went 2-4 on the power-play and a perfect 2-2 on the penalty kill in the effort. Bost earned the win net for Nichols backstopping the Bison with 34 saves. Dickson led the Bison from the face-off circle, going 8-13 from the dot.
Nichols will look to add to the win when they travel to Middletown, Rhode Island as they face off against Salve Regina from St. George's Ice Rink. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.
