Men’s Hockey Ties Nichols, 1-1, Wins Shootout

EAST BOSTON – All the scoring came in the third period and the Rams and Bison traded goals to be deadlocked after regulation and neither Suffolk men's hockey nor Nichols broke through in the overtime to end in a 1-1 stalemate in Conference of New England (CNE) action Saturday night at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink.  

Michael McEachern broke open the scoreless shootout in the fifth round to clinch the extra CNE point for the blue-and-gold.

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 1 | Nichols 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (3-2-1, 1-2-1 CNE) | Nichols (2-2-2, 1-1-2 CNE)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
After two scoreless periods, Suffolk wasted little time to get the goals going in the third. On the power play the Rams worked the puck around the zone waiting for the prime opportunity. Jack Robinson had the puck behind the Bison cage and found Scott McManus open in front. The sophomore sent a one-timer to the back of the cage to give Suffolk the one-goal edge 37 seconds into the third. McEachern had a hand in the game-opening goal. 

Nichols knotted the game at 1-all 2:40 later with a power play goal of its own. Gabe Tempe converted a slap shot from just inside the blue line into the game-tying goal. Nathan Carl and Jack Lee assisted on the goal. 

Neither team managed to sneak the puck past the goal line over the remainder of regulation to force the extra session.  

Suffolk started overtime with an extra skater as Brendan Schmidt was sent to the penalty box at the end of the third for interference. 

The Rams were unable to take advantage of the extra skater though as Nichols' defense blocked one shot and Nick Anderson saved two. Anderson would go on to turn aside three more and the Bison blocked two more to hold Suffolk scoreless the rest of the way.   

On the other end of the ice, CJ Hapward was not tested in the additional five minutes to keep things even at the end of 65 minutes.  

In the shootout, both netminders denied the first four attempts to turn on the shootout's sudden death. Hapward stopped Josh Dickson, which brought up McEachern. The grad student managed to trick Anderson and tuck the puck away to give the Rams the shootout victory.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• Hapward had 29 saves in the stalemate. 
• Anderson notched 30 stops in the draw.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• McManus was responsible for Suffolk's lone goal. 
• Robinson and McEachern had one assist apiece. 
• Shots were nearly even, but ended in Suffolk's favor, 31-10. 
• The Rams went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Bison converted one of their two man-up chances. 
• Nichols won the face-off battle, 36-26. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk moved to 30-26-5 all-time against Nichols. 
• The Rams are now 15-16-3 at home versus the Bison. 
• The blue-and-gold and Bison have gone into overtime eight times. 
• Tonight's contest was the first OT outing since Feb. 4, 2023, a 2-1 Suffolk setback. 
• Suffolk moved to 2-1-5 in OT outings against Nichols. 
• The foes skated to a draw for the first time since a 2-2 draw Dec. 3, 2016.
• Suffolk and Nichols went into a shootout for the first time. 
• The shootout was Suffolk's first since Jan. 5, 2024, the opening game of the 58th Codfish Bowl against Connecticut College. After a 1-1 draw with the Camels, Suffolk dropped the shootout 3-2.
• The shootout win was the Rams' first since besting western New England in a shootout 1-0 Dec. 9, 2022. 
• McManus scored his second goal of the season, first power play goal of his collegiate career. 
• McEachern handed out his second assist in a Suffolk sweater. 
• Robinson recorded his first collegiate assist.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk turns its attention to next weekend's home-and-home series with No. 10 University of New England, Nov. 22-23.