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January 19, 2011

Hockey Suffers 8-4 Setback Against Nichols In ECAC Northeast Action

The hockey team suffered an 8-4 setback against Nichols in an ECAC Northeast contest at the RI Sports Center on Wednesday evening.

Nichols got on the board first when sophomore Josh Moles (Fort Wayne, Ind.) scored just 2:48 into the contest.  Johnson & Wales responded, however and tied the game 1-1 on a goal by freshman Colin Flynn (Elverson, Pa.) at the 11:21 mark.  The Wildcats took the 2-1 lead when sophomore Jason Pietrasiak (Shrewsbury, Mass.) at the 12:39 mark.  JWU would take the one goal lead into the locker room at the first intermission.

The visiting Bison struck early in the second and knotted the game at 2-2 on a goal by senior Matt Roberts (Merrimac, Mass.) just 1:42 into the stanza.  A power play goal by senior Will Munson (Corona, Calif.) at the 5:26 mark would give Nichols the 3-2 advantage.  Once again, JWU responded and evened the score at 3-3 after a short handed goal by freshman Ryan Sell (Riga, Mich.) at the 13:27 mark.  The back-and-forth action continued and Nichols regained the 4-3 lead on a power play goal by junior Zach Hendrickson (Farmingdale, N.Y.) with just over five minutes left in the period.  The Wildcats battled back and tied the game at 4-4 at the 17:39 mark on a goal by senior Joe Simeone (Cranston, R.I.).  The game would head into the second intermission deadlocked in a 4-4 tie.

The two teams battled through the early stages of the third period Nichols took the 5-4 advantage when sophomore Zach Kohn (Hartland, Wisc.) scored a power play goal at the 10:36 mark.  That goal would prove to be the game winner.  The Bison then added three more goals, including the second goal of the game for Roberts, en route to the 8-4 victory.
Sophomore Jake Menzel (St. Louis, Mo.) made 29 saves for JWU in the setback while junior Jacob Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) had 24 stops in the win for Nichols.
With the loss Johnson & Wales falls to 7-8-1 overall and 4-1-0 in the ECAC Northeast while Nichols improves to 8-7-1 for the season, 2-3 in league play.  The Wildcats will return to action on Saturday, January 22nd when they travel to Western New England for an ECAC Northeast contest at 3:35 p.m.