BURRILLVILLE, R.I. – Sophomore Ryan Sullivan (Whately, Mass.) and freshman Adam Lane (Sarnia, Ont.) each tallied a goal and an assist and junior Jake Flynn (Lino Lakes, Minn.) assisted on a pair of markers as the Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team double up Nichols, 4-2, to win its fifth straight contest.
The Leopards, who snapped a six-game losing and eight-game winless streak against the Bison, picked up their first win over Nichols since Feb. 2, 2012. Wentworth improves to 8-13-2 overall and 7-6-1 in league play and also clinched a berth in the ECAC Northeast Tournament for the 18th straight season. Nichols, which still sits in first place by one point, falls to 15-8-0 (10-4-0).
Wentworth got on the board at the 12:12 mark of the opening frame when Flynn fed Lane whose shot was stopped by senior Alex Larson (Madison, Ala.). The rebound came out to Sullivan who poked it home for his second marker of the season.
Early in the second period Lane gave the Leopards a 2-0 lead when he tallied a power-play goal – his fourth marker of the season – off feeds from Sullivan and Flynn. It remained a two-goal lead until Nichols got on the board at the 3:27 mark. Junior Sean Swansen (Salem, N.H.) picked up his seventh tally of the season, which was assisted by senior Shane Totten (Traverse City, Mich.). At the 14:30 mark, senior Mike Cox (Marlborough, Mass.) gave the Black & Gold a 3-1 lead when he was set up by sophomore Erik Andersson (Madison, N.J.).
With 2:20 remaining in the contest, Larson was pulled for an extra attacker, however, Wentworth, while on the power play, potted an empty-net goal as sophomore Chris Sattler (East Longmeadow, Mass.) scored off a feed from freshman Angus Johnston (Calgary, Alta.) to make it 4-2 with 1:25 left. Fifteen seconds after the ensuing face-off, Larson was pulled again, and, with the Bison on the power play, the hosts capitalized with 13 seconds left in the contest as senior Steve Lecey (Cedarburg, Wisc.) and senior Tyler Beasley (Indianapolis, Ind.) set up senior Frank Butler (East Haven, Conn.).
Butler put a shot on net late, however Nichols was unable to score.
Senior Joel Miller (Calgary, Alta.) made 36 saves in the win while Larson made 23 stops for the Bison. Nichols had a 38-26 shot advantage in the contest.
Wentworth is at Becker on Tuesday afternoon while Nichols is at Suffolk on Wednesday.
