Burrillville, R.I. – Junior Michael Lopez (Newton, Mass.) sealed a 3-1 victory for Curry late in the game as the Colonels handed Nichols its first defeat of the season in an ECAC Northeast hockey league showdown at Levy Rink on Saturday night. With the win, Curry ups both its overall and conference mark to 2-1-0 while the Bison slip to 4-1-0 on the season and 2-1-0 in league play.
 
Playing with a sense of urgency, the Bison outshot the Colonels 13-6 in the final period and claimed a 31-18 bulge in shots for the contest. With 8:42 remaining in the period Nichols sophomore Joe Sposit (Cleveland, Ohio) fired a shot at senior netminder Joe Dawson (Woodbury, Minn.) as the puck was turned away at the last second to preserve a 2-1 advantage. At the 17:35 mark, Lopez scored his first goal of the season as he wristed a shot from inside the left circle off a feed from sophomore Chris Mason (Monrovia, Calif.).
 
Curry senior Ian DeLong (Kutztown, Pa.) broke the 0-0 stalemate with 3:27 left in the first period on a power play goal. DeLong fired in a shot near the blue line off a pass from senior Brett Kaneshiro (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) and sophomore Jordan Reed (Ajax, Ontario).
 
The Colonels notched another power play tally 8:29 into the second period as freshman Nicholas Coppola (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) streaked across the ice and tipped in a feed from Reed and Kaneshiro. With 3:42 left in the stanza, Sposit's shot glanced off the iron as the Bison reeled off five shots during an extra man opportunity. Just over two minutes later sophomore Mike O'Brien's (Raynham, Mass.) shot deflected off the goaltender's pads and was carried in off the knee of junior Greg Strootman (Aston, Pa.) as the Bison lit the lamp at 18:27.
 
Dawson moved to 2-1-0 as he collected a game-high 30 saves while the Colonels took advantage of two of their eight power play chances of the game. Junior Dylan Woodring (Rogue River, Ore.) stopped 15 shots as he dipped to 4-1-0 on the year as Nichols went 0-for-6 with extra personnel.
 
Nichols hosts the second annual Worcester City Shootout on Saturday, November 24 and Sunday November 25 at Levy Rink. The Bison square-off with Becker at 2:40 p.m. while Assumption takes on Worcester State at 5:40 p.m. on Saturday. The winners will meet at 3:10 on Sunday while the consolation game is slated for 12:10 p.m. Curry ventures to Tufts on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup at 7:35 p.m. (Game Recap Courtesy of Nichols Sports Information)