Men’s Hockey Rallies Past Nichols, 6-3

HARRISVILLE, R.I. – Three unanswered goals broke a 3-all tie and sent Suffolk men's hockey past Nichols, 6-3, Friday night in Commonwealth Coast Conference play at Levy Rink. The victory is the Rams first of the year and first under Shawn McEachern's guidance.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 6 | Nichols 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (1-2-0, 1-2-0 CCC) | Nichols (2-3-0, 0-3-0 CCC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
PJ Donahue put a shot on target from the blue line. Korbinian Lutz made the initial stop, however, the rebound found Peter Nugent who easily chipped it past the Bison goalie to push the blue-and-gold on the board 4:35 into the action. Phil Decresce aided in the game-opening goal.  

Ten minutes later, Suffolk stretch the gap to a pair of pucks. From a faceoff in the neutral zone, Ryan Webb won possession for the Rams who took the action towards Nichols' net. The freshman saw Max Rand in front of Lutz, slipped a pass over to the junior forward, who scored over Lutz stick side shoulder to give the visitors a 2-0 edge with less than five minutes remaining before the first intermission. 

Nathan Carl cut Suffolk's advantage in half with a breakaway short-handed strike at the 17:12 minute mark in the first period. 

Carl struck again when Bison were a skater down. This time sophomore forward Nichols found the loose puck in the slot, turned around, shot and beat Cal Wilcox to equalize things at 2-all at 7:39 in the middle period.  

Suffolk broke the 2-all tie 3:50 into the third period. Webb picked up the pieces of Donahue's saved shot from the blue line and found the back of the twine to send the Rams ahead, 3-2.  

Short-handed strikes kept the Bison in the game. This time the man-down marker came off Gabe Temple's stick to level matters at 3-all with 13:34 to go in regulation. 

The back-and-forth affair continued and just about three minutes later Suffolk scored again behind a rebound. Griffin Clark sent a shot towards Korbinian that was swatted away to Ryan Harrigan, who immediately shot one back. Like Clark's first attempt, Harrigan's shot was denied. Clark collected Harrigan's rebound and the senior's second shot lit the lamp to give Suffolk the lead, 4-3.   

The blue-and-gold's two-goal cushion from the first frame was restored 50 seconds later when Kevin Ouellette converted a pass from Nugent into a goal. Kyle Valiquette had a hand in the marker that made it a 5-3 Suffolk score.  

The Rams defense backed up Wilcox the rest of the way even when Nichols pulled Lutz from the cage at the 16:48 mark of the third.  

With no one defending the Bison's net, Harrigan tacked on an insurance tally with a short-handed empty netter with 2:36 left in the game. 

Lutz returned to his post and the score stayed still the rest of the way.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• Wilcox registered 27 saves. 
• Lutz provided 29 stops. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Harrigan, Nugent, Max Rand and Webb all contributed two points with one goal and one assist apiece. 
• Donahue added two points on a pair of helpers. 
• Clark and Ouellete each registered one goal. 
• Decresce, Lowe and Valiquette pitched in one assist each. 
• Suffolk outshot Nichols, 35-30. 
• Neither team capitalized on their man-up chances. 
• All three of the Bison's goals were short-handed. 
• The Rams won the face-off battle, 40-29. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk captured its first win of the McEachern era. 
• The Rams defeated the Bison for the third straight meeting. 
• The three wins in a row for Suffolk over Nichols are the most since the Rams rattled off five consecutive victories over Bison Nov. 16, 2002-Feb. 5, 2004. 
• Suffolk improved to 29-22-4 all-time against Nichols. 
• The Rams improved to 13-3-3 on the road versus the Bison. 
• Suffolk potted six goals against Nichols for the first time since defeating the Bison, 6-5, Jan. 22, 2022. 
• The six goals are the most scored since the Rams 6-5 victory over Nichols, Jan. 22, 2022. 
• Suffolk logged a short-handed strike for the first time since netting a man-down goal in at No. 15 Endicott, Feb. 18, 2022. 
• Webb recorded the first points of his collegiate career.
• Ouellete notched his first point in a Suffolk sweater.  
• Harrigan, Nugent and Max Rand both tied a career-high in points (2) and goals (1). 
• Harrigan had his first short-handed goal of his collegiate career. 
• Donahue matched a personal-best two helpers. 
• Clark tied a career-high one goal.  
• Decresce dished out the first assist of his collegiate career.  
• Valiquette matched a personal-high one set-up. 

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk will host Nichols tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 12 at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink at 4:50 p.m.