Men’s Ice Hockey Shutout for First Time This Season, 3-0

DUDLEY, Mass. (January 31, 2022) – The Western New England men's ice hockey team played their second game in less than 24 hours against the Nichols College Bison, falling 3-0, as Nichols records the first shutout of the season against the Golden Bears. 

Records:

• Western New England: 4-12-2 (2-11-1 CCC)
• Nichols College: 5-11-1 (4-11-0 CCC)

How it Happened:

As they did at the Olympia Ice Center less than 24 hours ago, the Bison got the game started on Monday afternoon with an opening goal within the first two minutes of play. Austan Bellefeuille would credit the opening tally from the Bison on assist from Kaiden Scott and Daniel Barry to give Nichols the 1-0 lead. Anthony Aureliano made his 7^th start for the Golden Bears on the afternoon. Nichols would seem to have much of the momentum in the first period, taking 19 shots on goal to Western New England's seven. Late in the first, Nichols would strike again for their second goal of the afternoon. Nathan Carl would credit his 5^th goal on the season and second in as many games to give Nichols the two-goal lead heading into the break. 

Nichols would be the only team to score a goal in the second period as the Bison again took control of the momentum, out shooting Western New England 17-8 in the period. At the 16:19 mark, Petr Miko tallied a goal after a nice passing play from Philip Bjorkman would tally the third Nichols College goal. Bjorkman would flip the puck from the Nichols defensive zone to the Nichols offensive zone. Curtis Carlson would track the puck down to avoid the icing call and send a pass right in front of the goal for an open Petr Miko who snapped a shot right past Aureliano. The Golden Bears would have no answers in the period, heading into the third period down by three goals. 

Western New England would be denied by Mathias Backstrom, who made his third start of the season for Nichols on the afternoon. Kyle Knight would shoot four times towards goal, while seven different Golden Bears took at least two shots in the contest, though Backstrom stood tall to the task as the Golden Bears pushed to get back into the game, though neither team would end up scoring a goal in the third period, sending Western New England to their second straight loss to the Bison. Nichols would take down WNE by a final score of 3-0. 

Inside the Crease:

• Anthony Aureliano made 48 saves on the afternoon in the loss for the Golden Bears. The 48 saves in Aureliano's career high, after making a career best 44 saves twice this season. 
• WNE was successful on 34-69 faceoffs on the afternoon while Lliam Christiano went 14-19 on the dot. Christiano has won 56% of his faceoffs this season, going 180/322 overall. 
• Neither team converted a powerplay goal on the afternoon, as Western New England went 0/5 and Nichols College went 0/7. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England hits the ice again tomorrow as they travel to Suffolk University (4-8-3, 4-6-3 CCC) at 3:30 pm. 
• Nichols College meets Salve Regina University on Friday, February 4 at 8:00 pm.