Skyhawks Come Up Short Verse Nichols, 3-2

 

 The Skyhawks slip to 7-7-1 with the 3-2 loss to Nichols

Skyhawks Come Up Short Verse Nichols, 3-2

Boxscore

Bridgewater, Mass. - Two late scores from Matt Roberts and JoJo Bojanowski lead to a 3-2 victory for the Nichols College Bison (14-5-1, 8-3 ECAC) over the Stonehill Skyhawks (7-7-1, 1-1 Northeast-10).  Nichols' aggressive offensive attack snapped a two-game winning streak for the Stonehill squad at the Bridgewater Ice Arena Wednesday night.

A scoreless first period hardly resembled the 7-5 shoot-out between Nichols and Stonehill earlier this season.  Yet, much like the November 17th contest, it was Nichols who left with the victory.  

For the second straight game it was Paul Reissfelder (Plymouth, Mass./Tilton) who put Stonehill on the board first with a hard-fought score midway through the second period.  After a face off in Nichols' end, Reissfelder executed a blistering wrist shot while being dragged down from behind.  The score put the Skyhawks up 1-0.

Two penalties lead to a 6-on-4 advantage for the Bison, who capitalized minutes later.  Anthony Monte nailed home a blue-line slap shot for Nichols' first marker of the evening.  The score remained 1-1 at the end of second frame despite Nichols out-shooting Stonehill 37-19.  The Skyhawks weathered seven penalties in the second period to keep the score tied.

A power play goal from Matt Roberts put Nichols up 2-1.  Bojankowski extended their lead to 3-1, 14:08 into the third period.  A final score from senior Rob Carpenter (Cohasset, Mass./Cohasset) brought the Skyhawks within one, but it was too little, too late.

Rookie Mike Manna (Framingham, Mass./Xaverian) made 46 saves in defeat.  Nichols' goaltender Keith Fink made 14 of his 32 saves in the final frame to preserve the one-goal victory.  The Bison out-shot the Skyhawks 49-34.

James Killeen (Derry, N.H./Proctor Academy) and Brian Davis (Foxboro, Mass./Foxboro) each earned an assist on Reissfelder's opening score, while John Sommers (Manchester, Conn./Kent School) and Zach Canton (Walpole, Mass./Xaverian) registered helpers on Carpenter's marker.

The Skyhawks will have their third Conference game Saturday when they host the Assumption Greyhounds.  Stonehill will look to turn it around against the Greyhounds, who they defeated earlier this year, 4-3.  The puck drops at 1:40 p.m.