MILTON, Mass. --- The Curry College men's ice hockey team defeated visiting Nichols College, 4-3, on Friday night at the Max Ulin Rink in Milton. With the win the Colonels improve to 6-4-1 overall and 5-3-1 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference while the loss drops the Bison to 6-5-2 on the season and 4-5-2 against conference opponents.

The teams battled each other to a scoreless first period.  Shots were 7-4 in favor of the Bison. 

A combined five goals were scored in the second frame.  Nichols struck first with just 27 seconds off the clock.  The Bison's junior Matthew Menta (Lima, Pa.) one-timed a shot that sailed over the shoulder of Curry's freshman netminder Frank Cundiff (Oceanside, N.Y.).  Menta's goal was unassisted. The Colonels answered back five minutes later to even the game at 1-1.  Junior Mack Heisinger (Winnipeg, Manitoba) took a slap shot past the Nichols netminder freshman Henry Burns (Camillus, N.Y.).  Heisinger was assisted by juniors Lionel Mauron (Lausanne, Switzerland) and Zachary White (Milford, Conn.). The Bison regained the lead at the 11:21 minute mark when sophomore Zachary Palmer (Ellington, Conn.) fired one into the back of the net.  Junior Ian Spencer (Hawthorne, N.J.) earned the helper.  With only a minute left on the board, Curry tallied two more to head into intermission with a 3-2 advantage.  The first came from freshman Kasper Kjellkvist (Vaxjo, Sweden) at 19:01 on a power-play.  Forty seconds after Kjellkvist's goal, freshman Michael Snow (Medford, Mass.) tipped in the puck off a pass from senior Jarret Kup (Rosseau, Ontario).  Curry held a 13-6 lead in shots.

The Colonels extended their lead to two just five minutes into the final stanza.  Mauron won the face-off in Curry's offensive end and sent the puck to Heisinger.  Heisinger found White open in front of the net who got a stick on the puck sending it past the glove of Burns.  The Bison made it a one goal game with less than five minutes to play. Junior T.J. Roche (Northport, N.Y.) maneuvered the puck past Cundiff with assists from sophomores Vincent Crivello (Rosemere, Quebec) and Hogan Davidson (Duluth, Minn.).  Nichols pulled Burns with a minute remaining for an extra man opportunity but failed to capitalize as the Colonels held on to the 4-3 victory.

The Colonels outshot the Bison, 22-19. Curry was 1-5 on the PP while Nichols was 0-2.

Cundiff recorded 16 saves in net for the win.  Burns made 28 stops in net taking the loss. 

The teams will face each other again tomorrow at Nichols in a 4:40 p.m. game start.