Ice Hawks Season Ends at Nichols

March 1, 2003

Four Goal Third Lifts Nichols Men’s Hockey into ECAC Northeast Semifinals

POMFRET, CT- The Nichols College men's hockey team earned a 5-1 victory over Becker in the ECAC Northeast Quarterfinals on Saturday night at Jahn Rink. The Bison scored four goals in the final period to break a 1-1 deadlock. The win tonight made history as Nichols now has a school record 19 wins this season. They will host the winner of the Wentworth/Suffolk game, which will be played tomorrow at 6 pm, this Wednesday at 7 pm in the ECAC Northeast Semifinals.

Both goalies got off to solid starts as the first 20 minutes went scoreless for each team. Becker goalie Tony Stoehr (De Pere, WI) turned away all 15 of Nichols shot on net while Bison goaltender Keith Fink (Easton, MD) stopped all eight shots he faced.

The second period saw a combined 32 shots on net as both teams got on the board. The Bison grabbed a 1-0 lead at the 8:39 mark when freshman Frank Cosentino (Norwalk, CT) made a diving play for the puck and tucked it in past Stoehr for his first collegiate goal.

The Hawks quickly broke up Nichols momentum with a goal of their own just one minutes and 33 seconds later to knot the score at 1-1. Freshman Anthony Libonati (McMinnville, OR) beat Fink glove side after being set-up by freshman Robert Higgins (Grandville, MI) and junior Chris Reilly (Lexington, MA).

With their season on the line, the Bison regrouped heading into the third and final period and came out firing. Junior Ryan Gervais’ (Chicago, IL) goal 4:50 into the third proved to be the game-winner as the Bison went on to score three more goals to earn the 5-1 win. Assisting on Gervais’ game-winner, which was the result of a Becker deflection, was sophomore Zeke Costello (Shelby Township, MI).

Sophomore Eric Cremer (Chelsea, MI) added an insurance goal at the 7:52 mark. Assisting on the goal were freshmen Will Munson (Corona, CA) and John Haley (Shelbourne, VT).

Junior Anthony Monte (Chicago, IL) got his first point of the night with 4:58 left in the game with Gervais and Costello earning the assists. Freshman Billy Sabia (Ridgefield, CT) put a cap on the win with an empty net goal with 16 seconds remaining. Junior Cole Ruwe (Pekin, IL) was credited with the assist.

Stoehr finished with 43 saves in the loss for Becker while Fink improved to 16-6-1 on the season, recording 29 saves for Nichols