AUBURN, Mass. (Jan. 24, 2004) - The Franklin Pierce ice hockey team fell 8-5 to Nichols College in ECAC Northeast action tonight.

Freshman Mark Shinder (Los Angeles, Calif.) recorded a hat trick along with an assist to lead the Bison. Senior Mike Loftus (Philadelphia, Pa.) contributed two goals and an assist.

Senior Ed Farinato (Medford, Mass./Bay State Breakers) and junior Jason Pierce (Maynard, Mass./Nashoba Regional) led the Ravens with two goals apiece, while Farinato also added an assist. Sophomore Matt Clemente (Middletown, N.J./Laconia Leafs) contributed a goal and an assist in the loss.

Shinder opened up the scoring at 9:18 in the first to notch his first of the evening. Farinato tied the score at one 5:54 into the second on a pass from Rob Pendola (Everett, Mass./Mass Mariners) and Shawn Dooley (Rockland, Mass./Archbishop Williams). However, at 10:05 in the period, the Bison regained the lead on Shinder's second of the night and Dave Berardinelli (Warwick, R.I.) put Nichols up 3-1 to head to the locker rooms after two.

The third period was a virtual shootout as the two teams scored a combined nine goals in the stanza. Shinder began the scoring to complete his hat trick at 2:27 into the third and Pierce answered his goal with one for Franklin Pierce at 5:49 from freshmen Ryan Boudreau (Arlington, Mass./Bridgton Academy) and Matt Groh (West Palm Beach, Fla./Laconia Leafs). John Ciampa (Saugus, Mass.) took the goal back at 7:20, but Farinato notched his second of the night at 9:02 to make the score 5-3. Pierce brought the Ravens to within one exactly one minute later with his eighth of the season from Groh and Matt DePuydt (Houghton, Mich./SUNY Canton). Loftus answered that goal at 12:20 to give the Bison back a two-goal lead, but Franklin Pierce once again came within one as Clemente scored his eighth goal of the season from Pandola and Farinato at 13:07. Two more goals from Loftus and Brett Urban (Philadelphia, Pa.) at 15:48 and 16:37 secured the victory for the Bison.

Sophomore Robert Arduini (Fulton, N.Y./G. Ray Bodley) made 33 saves in net for Franklin Pierce, while Ryan Davis (Sandpinte, Mich.) stopped 26 and picked up the win for Nichols.

Franklin Pierce (2-12, 1-10 ECAC Northeast, 0-4 NE-10) hosts an ECAC Northeast matchup against Western New England College on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

 Nichols 8, Franklin Pierce 5

 SCORING:

First Period: NC, Mark Shinder (Kevin Rowe, Mike Loftus), 9:18.
Second Period: FPC, Ed Farinato (Rob Pendola, Shawn Dooley), 5:54; NC, Shinder (Dave Abramo) 10:05; NC, Dave Berardinelli (Shawn Fehr), 18:05.

Third Period: NC, Shinder (Rob Erdmann), 2:27; FPC, Jason Pierce (Ryan Boudreau, Matt Groh), 5:49; NC,  John Ciampa (Alan Canale, Mike Wright), 7:20; FPC, Farinato (Matt Clemente) 9:02; FPC, Pierce (Groh, Matt DePuydt), 10:02; NC: Loftus (Shinder), 12:20; FPC, Clemente (Pendola, Farinato) 13:07; NC, Loftus (UNA), 15:28; NC, Brett Urban (Berardinelli), 16:37.
GOALIES: FPC: Robert Arduini (41 shots, 33 saves); NC: Ryan Davis (31 shots, 26 saves).