BURRILLVILLE, R.I. (1/13/2026) – The Nichols College men's ice hockey team hosted Johnson & Wales University at the Levy Rink on Tuesday night for a rare midweek game. The Bison battled to the final minutes but came up just short in a 3-2 conference setback against the Wildcats.
 
The Bison fall back below .500 to 7-8-0 (4-6-0 CNE) with the conference loss, while the Wildcats move to 5-6-1 (3-4-0 CNE) with the win to help their push towards CNE playoffs.
 
The Bison opened the scoring midway through the first period, capitalizing on a power play at 13:20. Justin Massa netted his second goal of the season, finishing a feed from CJ Zezima and Luca Ricci to give Nichols a 1-0 lead. Nichols' strong start was put to an end when Johnson & Wales responded late in the frame, as Bret Beale scored at 19:26 to send the game into the first intermission tied at 1-1. 
 
It was JWU who came out strongly in the second period, taking their first lead of the night just 37 seconds into the second period when Connor Nelson buried an even-strength chance to make it 2-1. Despite generating 11 shots on goal in the period, the Bison could not find a second goal, and the Wildcats took the lead going into the third period. Nichols' goaltender Ryan Henry had a strong period, making 13 saves.
 
Nichols pulled even early in the final period when Jeremy Tremblay snapped home his fifth goal of the season at 5:09 off an assist from Zezima to tie the game at 2-2. The decisive moment came at 12:28, as Beale scored his second goal of the night on an even-strength tally that proved to be the game-winner for JWU. The Bison continued to push, firing multiple shots during a power play midway through the period, but were unable to break through. Tremblay recorded the Bison high 5 shots in the third period, with two of them coming in the final two minutes of the game.
 
Ryan Henry made 29 saves in net for Nichols, while Inzirillo stopped 34 shots for the Wildcats. Nichols finished the night 1 for 4 on the power play and narrowly lost the faceoff battle, 36-34.
 
The Bison will look to bounce back as they continue conference play next week when they travel up to Biddeford, Maine, to face UNE at the Harold Alfond Forum. Puck drop is set for 7 PM on Friday, January 23rd.