Miller’s Career Night Helps WNE Secure Third Straight Win

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (December 2, 2022) – Western New England men's ice hockey defenseman Shane Miller scored a goal and added four assists as the Golden Bears picked up their first home win of the season, defeating CCC opponents Nichols College on Friday night from the Olympia Ice Center. 

Records:

• Western New England: 4-6, 2-5 CCC
• Nichols College: 4-5, 2-5 CCC

How it Happened:

Nichols College would open the game with the first goal of the game when Dylan McMahon found the back of the net for the Bison on assists from Taber Gutschick and Hunter Fraser to give the Bison the early 1-0 lead just under five minutes into the contest. The early leaf for the Bison would not last long as WNE's Peter Izzo would find the back of the net for the first time in his career to even the scoring at one. Shane Miller would send the puck down the right side boards and around the goal to Dalton Garcia who would find Izzo on the back post, locked and loaded for a one-timer, and saw the puck squeak past Nichols GK Tyler Bost and into the net to give the Golden Bears their first goal of the game. 

Nichols would bounce back after they were awarded with a powerplay and found twine when Josh Dickinson pumped the puck past Colten Lancaster to give the Bison their second lead of the game. Scott Kaiden and Nathan Carl would pick up helpers for Nichols to take a 2-1 lead. After saves from both Bosa and Lancaster through the midway point of the first period, Western New England would use the final two minutes to find the game tying goal in the opening 20 minutes and would find that when Sam Mitchell scored his second goal of the season with 1:31 on the clock. Forwards Jordie Morgan and Everest Schneider would combine with Mitchell for some tic-tac-toe passing which led to Mitchell finishing the job on the back post to even the score at two. Western New England would outshoot Nichols 16-9 through the first period of play with both teams scoring twice. 

Just 1:05 into the second period, Nichols would get on the board again, when Luke Harvie found the back of the net on assists from Gabe Temple and Collin McGuire to give Nichols their third lead of the game, which stood at 3-2. As they did the first three times, Western New England would even the score with 6:03 to play in the second period when Shane Miller took a hard wrist shot from the blueline that sailed into the top right corner of the net to tie the score at three. Finn Bambery and Demitrios Stefanou would collect assists on the goal from Miller. With 1:27 to play in the second, Western New England would collect their first lead of the game when Justin Sullivan found the back of the net. After a faceoff win from the Golden Bears, Billy Hefferle would move the puck to Shane Miller, who took a shot that was tipped in front by Sullivan, giving the Golden Bears their first lead of the game, which stood at 4-3. Sullivan registers his first career goal with Western New England. The lead for the Golden Bears would last all of 38 seconds as Gabe Temple would find the goal for Nichols on assists from Luke Harvie and Hunter Fraser to get the game back to even with 20 minutes to play. Nichols would come away with 12 shots in the period while Western New England put up nine. Another two goals from each team would mean the game would be decided in the final 20 minutes of play. 

A powerplay opportunity for the blue and gold would give Western New England a chance to take the lead for the second time in the contest and that is exactly what they did. After back-and-forth board play, Shane Miller would snap a pass to Sam Mitchell who then sent the puck to the bottom of the circles where Matt Dougherty would attempt a cross crease pass, though the puck would deflect off Nichols goalkeeper and fall into the net to give the Golden Bears a 5-4 lead. Dougherty picked up his second goal of the season. GK Colten Lancaster came up with a strong final 20 minutes of play, not allowing the Bison to score to preserve the win for WNE. Shane Miller would assist one final time, as Kyle Knight would tally a powerplay empty net goal for Western New England with 52 seconds to play to put the icing on the contest as Western New England would collect a 6-4 victory on Friday night. 

Inside the Pipes:

• Shane Miller registered a goal and four assists for WNE, good for five points on the night, a record for most points in a game by a WNE defenseman all-time. Miller now has 16 points on the season, which ranks first on WNE and tops in the CCC
• Sam Mitchell added a goal and an assist for Western New England, while Matt Dougherty's second goal of the season would prove to be the game winning goal of the night to give WNE the win. 
• Western New England is currently riding a three-game win streak, which includes two wins in the CCC.
• The Golden Bears converted on two of five powerplay chances while taking 36 total shots on the night. 
• Nichols College was led by Luke Harvie, Hunter Fraser, and Gabe Temple who collected two points each. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Both teams will meet again tomorrow, Saturday, December 3 at 4:40 pm.