Worcester, Mass. (January 7) – The Assumption College men's ice hockey team dropped the consolation match of the Worcester City Shootout, 6-2, to Nichol's College on Saturday afternoon in men's ice hockey action. Assumption slips to 6-7-1 on the season.
Louie Educate knocked home three of the game's first four goals for Nichols College. The first came 16:05 into the game as the rookie snuck the puck past the Assumption netminder on the glove side off a rebound shot taken by sophomore Greg Strootman. Nichols held a commanding 19-5 edge on shots to begin the contest.
Just 3:01 into the second frame, Educate netted another goal to put the Bison ahead 2-0. The Ice Dogs responded 1:27 later to cut the deficit to 2-1. Sophomore Kyle Zobler (Millbury, Mass.) found the back of the net for his first collegiate goal after receiving the pass from senior Kevin Glanzman (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa). Educate completed the hat-trick with the help of first-year Tyler Marek and junior Bryan Gill at the 5:29 mark. Assumption finished the period with a slim 11-10 lead on shots.
Strootman and Edcuate combined efforts again 3:38 into the final period with Strootman attacking from the right side. With 12:29 left senior Andrew Ella wristed a shot past the Ice Dog goalie to push the lead to 6-1. Seniors Zach Hendrickson and Andrew Letellier forwarded the puck to aid the scoring opportunity. Not going down without a fight, Assumption senior Pat O'Kane (Hollis, N.H./Bishop Guertin) along with Zobler worked up the ice and found senior Taylor Larsen (Blackstone, Mass./Worcester Academy) who beat the Nichols backstop despite making a great move on the puck.
The Bison came out shooting in the third to post a 16-7 margin in the shot department and finished with 45 of the 68 shots in the game. For the tournament Nichols outshot its opponents 86-52.
Each squad potted a power play goal while Nichols killed off nine of the 10 Ice Dogs extra-man opportunities. Assumption finished one-for-five on the power play.
Nichols netminder senior Jacob Rinn stopped 21 shots and improves to 3-5-1 on the year. Assumption senior goalie Steve DIDomenico (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) collected 25 saves in his first start this season while sophomore Bobby Bowden (Springfield, Mass./Williston-Northampton) manned the net for the final period turning away 14 shots.
