HARRISVILLE, R.I.  – Curry College junior Christopher Atkinson (Sparta, N.J.) scored two goals and added an assist to lead the Colonels to a 4-2 ECAC Northeast victory over Nichols College at June Rockwell Levy Rink Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Colonels run their unbeaten streak to four games and improve to 4-2-2 overall and 2-1-1 in conference play. Nichols falls to 4-3-1 overall and 1-3-0 in conference games.

The Colonels took advantage of a five-minute major whistled on the Bison at 4:40 to pot a power-play goal less than two minutes later. Joshua Pineiro (Burbank, Calif.) rotated the puck to the top of the left circle before dumping it down to Michael Guzzo (Pinckney, Mich.) at the dot. Pinckney’s shot was saved by Nichols netminder Jacob Rinn (Warwick, R.I.) but the rebound trickled out for Atkinson to flip above Rinn’s shoulder at the near post at 6:20.

Nichols answered back less than two minutes later with a short-handed score from Matt Sayer (Lowell, Mass.). Zach Kohn (Hartland, Wis.) picked off a clear attempt inside the zone and sent it down to Sayer who wristed it over the glove side of Curry goaltender Travis Owens (Burbank, Calif.) at 8:02.

Nichols took a 2-1 lead at 14:07 on a Robbie Sorrenti (Wyckoff, N.J.) score. Brent Davis (Stony Plain, Alberta) slipped the puck down the left boards to Andrew Letellier (Saco, Maine) who dodged a Curry defender while bringing it behind the net. Sorrenti was waiting at the near post to redirect his centering pass high past Owens’s shoulder to take the lead.

Alexander Barr (West Milford, N.J.) knotted the game within the first five minutes of the second frame. After taking a cross-slot pass from Atkinson at the right faceoff dot, he wristed a shot over Rinn’s blocker side at 4:12.

The Colonels edged ahead with a power-play goal just before the midway point of the middle period when John Williams (Flourtown, Pa.) potted a rebound off a netfront shot by Steven Mohler (Anaheim, Calif.). Ryan Warsofsky (Marshfield, Mass.) shipped the puck down to the right circle from the left point where Mohler tried to sneak the puck in at the post. Williams pulled the rebound to the open left side of the net and slipped it in at 9:04 for a 3-2 lead.

Nichols held a 17-9 shot advantage in the final stanza and had several chances to tie the game late including a 3-on-1 break with under six minutes to play. The Bison pulled their goaltender with 31 seconds left to play but were unable to capitalize.

The Colonels, however, potted an empty-net goal with nine seconds left when Ryan Barlock (Niles, Ill.) tipped the puck ahead to Atkinson as he split two defenders in the neutral zone to skate into Bison territory unopposed.

Nichols finished the night with a 37-25 shot advantage, and received 21 saves from Rinn. Owens improved to 4-0-1 with 35 saves.

Nichols travels to Franklin Pierce Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game before facing Williams College for the first time in program history on Sunday, December 12th at 3 p.m. in Williamstown. Curry is idle until December 31 when the Colonels take on host Plattsburgh State at 4 p.m. in the Cardinal Classic.

(Release Courtesy of Nichols Sports Information)

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