Sweeney scores twice

WINCHENDON, Mass. (December 8, 2010) – Sophomore forward Roscoe Sweeney (Falmouth, Mass.) scored a pair of goals on Wednesday night, but the Franklin Pierce University ice hockey team was defeated, 7-2, by Nichols in non-conference play at The Winchendon School Ice Arena. Sophomore forward Zach Kohn scored twice and added an assist in the victory for Nichols.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 3-8-0 (2-1-0 Northeast-10), while Nichols improves to 5-3-1 (1-3-0 ECAC Northeast).

Nichols jumped out to a 3-0 lead in a hurry, with three goals in the opening 5:04 of the contest. Kohn struck first after being sprung into the attacking zone on a partial breakaway thanks to a pass through the neutral zone by senior forward Matt Sayer. Kohn snapped a shot to the upper right corner from the right circle for his fourth goal of the season just 62 seconds into the game, while senior forward Will Munson picked up the other assist.

The Bison would then score a pair of goals from the doorstep at the 2:50 and 5:04 marks. First, sophomore forward Ray Furr stuffed home a shot right out front for his first of the season off a feed from junior forward Zach Hendrickson. Later, junior forward Andrew Ella banged home his fifth of the season on a similar play, while senior forward JoJo Bojanowski and sophomore defenseman Bryan Gill picked up the assists.

Franklin Pierce got on the board just past the midway point of the period when freshman forward Bryan Colella (Medfield, Mass.) slipped a pass from the left corner to Sweeney out in front of the left post. Sweeney put home his fourth goal of the season at the 10:02 mark, while sophomore defenseman Tyler Cornele (Cape Coral, Fla.) picked up a helper as well.

Nichols made it 4-1 heading for the first intermission with the ninth goal of the season for Sayer, who buried a one-timer at the right post on the power play at 13:01, off assists from Munson and sophomore defenseman Will Brown.

Sweeney briefly pulled the Ravens within two goals at 4-2 when he got his stick to a shot from the right point by sophomore defenseman Brendan McCarron (Andover, Mass.) and redirected it into the net at the 4:14 mark of the second stanza. However, Nichols would reclaim the three-goal lead just 44 seconds later, when freshman forward Robbie Sorrenti popped home a power-play tally, his third goal of the season, from Kohn and Sayer.

Nichols added third-period goals from Kohn and Bojanowski to create the 7-2 final. Munson assisted on Kohn's marker to pick up his third assist of the evening.

Freshman goaltender Dave O'Brien (Groton, Mass.) started, made 17 saves and took the loss (3-3-0) in front of the net for Franklin Pierce. Junior Ben Siok (Holden, Mass.) played the final 19:32 after the sixth Nichols goal and made 13 saves the rest of the way. Sophomore Ryan Casey stopped 30 shots to pick up the win (2-2-0) between the pipes for Nichols.

Nichols posted a 37-32 advantage in shots on goal on the night and went 2-for-3 on the power play. Franklin Pierce finished 0-for-8 with the man-advantage.

The Ravens return to the ice on Saturday, Dec. 11, when they remain home to host Saint Michael's in a Northeast-10 Conference contest. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at The Winchendon School Ice Arena.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics).