D’Aniello Lights the Lamp Twice as Men’s Ice Hockey Wins Fourth in a Row

DUDLEY, Mass. (December 3, 2022) – The Western New England men's ice hockey team defeated Nichols College for the second time in 24 hours after John D'Aniello collected two third period goals to take a 5-3 win over the Bison to improve to 5-6 on the season. 

Records:

• Western New England: 5-6, 3-5 CCC
• Nichols College: 4-6, 2-6 CCC

How it Happened:

Just one goal was scored in the first period, which belonged to the Golden Bears as Western New England would take a 1-0 lead into the break when Matt Dougherty scored his second goal of the mini two game series against Nichols to get the Golden Bears on the board. Kyle Knight and John D'Aniello collected assists on the goal from Dougherty as Western New England would continue their hot starts. Nichols would outshoot Western New England 10-7 in the first period though Colten Lancaster would collect all ten shots to keep the Bison off the board. 

Nichols needed eight minutes into the second period to even the score and pick up their first goal of the game when Josh Dickinson found the back of the net for the Bison on assists from Quinn McCarthy and Dylan McMahon. Six minutes later, Nichols took advantage of a Zach Conboy tripping penalty that gave the Bison a lead on a goal from Dylan McMahon. McMahon's goal gave Nichols their first lead of the game which ended up being short lived as Kyle Knight would fire home a shot that gave the Golden Bears the evening strike with two minutes to play in the period. Matt Dougherty and John D'Aniello would both collect assists for WNE on the tying goal. Western New England would again be outshot in the period, this time 18-9, though Lancaster came away with 16 big saves to keep Nichols at bey. 

In the third period, Nichols would retake the lead when Dylan McMahon scored the Bison's second power play goal of the evening on an assist from Joey Allegrini to give Nichols a 3-2 with 12 minutes to play in the third period. Western New England would answer with a power play goal when John D'Aniello found the back of the net on assists from Matt Dougherty and Shane Miller to tie the score at three. 

Western New England and John D'Aniello needed just 1:14 to get on the board again and take the lead when D'Aniello found the back of the net for the second time of the day while collecting his fourth point of the game to give WNE a 4-3 lead with seven minutes to play in the period. Jason Diamond and Matt Dougherty would assist on D'Aniello's tally. From there, the Bison would be desperate shooting 11 times towards goal in the final six minutes of the period. Western New England would add an empty net tally when Shane Miller finished off an unassisted tally to give Western New England a 5-3 lead and a 5-3 win in the contest. 

Inside the Pipes:

• John D'Aniello scored two goals and added two assists as the Golden Bears would collect five goals on the evening. 
• Matt Dougherty also shined on the ice for WNE scoring a goal and adding three assists, going +3 on the ice. 
• Kyle Knight and Shane Miller both collected a goal and an assist for WNE. 
• Colten Lancaster made 41 saves for WNE on their way to their fourth straight victory and third victory of the season in CCC play.
• WNE would shoot 25 times towards goal while Nichols attempted 44 shots on goal in the game.
• Both team collected powerplay goals, with Nichols scoring twice on the PP. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE returns home to take on Suffolk University in hopes of winning their fifth straight contest on Friday, December 9 at 8:00 pm. 
• Nichols heads to Curry College on the same date.