Nichols Tops Western New England, 3-1

Pionk nets first goal of season, Carducci makes 29 saves in second career start

HARRISVILLE, R.I. (February 4, 2017) – The Western New England University ice hockey team fell to Nichols College, 3-1, this afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Levy Rink.  

Top Performers
• Senior forward Tyler Pionk (Hermantown, Minn.) scored his first goal of the season, getting the Golden Bears on the board in the third period.
• Making just his second collegiate start in net, freshman goaltender Kyle Carducci (Hartford, Conn.) finished with 29 saves on 32 shots.

• Junior forward Scott Cuthrell (Waterford, Mich.) led the Bison with one goal and two assists.  
• Junior defenseman Cody Rodgers (Austin, Tex.) and sophomore forward Matthew Menta (Lima, Pa.) also posted multi-point efforts, as Rogers recorded one goal and one assist and Menta dished out a pair of helpers.
• Graduate student netminder Patrick Salkind (Springfield, Va.) stopped 23 of the 24 shots that he faced.

Game Review
• Rodgers opened the scoring midway through the first period with a power play tally on feeds from Cuthrell and Menta.
• The Bison doubled their advantage 9:14 into the second period when Cuthrell set up freshman forward J.B. Baker (Columbia, Md.) for a shorthanded goal.
• Nichols capitalized on another power play opportunity early in the third period, as Cuthrell scored with the help of Menta and Rodgers to make it 3-0.
• Western New England broke through at the 13:43 mark of the final frame when Pionk netted his first of the season with assists from sophomore David Kleyman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and senior captain Josh Twietmeyer (Weston, Fla.). 

Notes
• Nichols outshot Western New England 32-24 and held a 33-25 edge in the faceoff circle.
• The Golden Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Nichols capitalized on 2-of-4 opportunities with a man advantage.
• Twietmeyer finished with a team-high four shots and went 2-for-4 in the faceoff circle.

Up Next
Western New England (7-12-2, 4-9-1 CCC) returns to action on Thursday at Wentworth, while Nichols (12-5-4, 9-2-3 CCC) travels to Salve Regina.