DUDLEY, Mass. (Feb. 22) – For the first time since the 2008-09 ECAC Northeast Championship season, the Nichols College men's ice hockey team will host an ECAC Northeast Hockey League quarterfinal matchup at Levy Rink in Harrisville, R.I. The #3 Bison (11-12-2, 9-4-1) will square off against Worcester County foe #6 Becker (9-14-2, 4-9-1) in a 2:40 p.m. contest Saturday at Levy Rink.
 
Ticket prices are $5 for adults and $1 for students and children. Live Stats and video will be available for those unable to make it to Levy Rink on Saturday.
 
Nichols entered the second semester with a 3-11-1 record which included wins over Franklin Pierce and Assumption, while also picking up a conference win at Salve Regina. The victory against Assumption in the inaugural Worcester Cup turned the tides and sparked the Bison to a hot second half of the season. First-year Louie Educate recorded a hat-trick in the game and tacked on an assist en route to earning all-tournament honors.
 
As classes and the league schedule resumed, the Bison reeled off an 8-1-1 record to secure the third seed and home ice for the quarterfinals in the ECAC Northeast Ice Hockey Tournament. The only blemish came at Northeastern's Matthews Arena to top seeded Wentworth in a 3-1 decision.
 
Offensively the Bison are led by Educate as he paces Division III and is second among all NCAA men's ice hockey players with 24 goals. The forward also leads his Division III peers with six game-winners and all rookies with 1.52 points per game. Junior Zach Kohn, the team leader with 15 assists, is in search of his 100th career point and would be the first junior to do so since Anthony Monte in 2007-08.
 
The Bison boast the reigning ECAC Northeast Goalie of the Week, senior Jacob Rinn who has taken home the award the past three weeks and a total of four times this season. Rinn has an 11-8-2 record while touting a .911 save percentage and goals against average of 2.68.
 
Head coach Lou Izzi will look to senior captains Zach Hendrickson and Andrew Ella as well as Rinn to help guide the team through the postseason. The four-year Bison were key ingredients as rookies in 2008-09 ECAC Northeast Championship and logged ice time during the program's first NCAA tournament game that year.
 
The Bison split the season series with Becker, defeating the Hawks, 4-1, on February 4th at Levy Rink while Becker took a 4-0 decision back in November. Sophomore Korby Anderson had an assist on the lone Hawk marker earlier this month and had a goal and three helpers in the November meeting. Junior David Graham scored twice as sophomore Dan Kane pitched in with a pair of assists in the first contest.
 
The two teams have met in the quarterfinals of the last two ECAC Northeast playoffs, with Becker coming out on top in both meetings in Marlborough. The Bison rolled past the Hawks in the teams' 2008 quarterfinal matchup, a home game for Nichols played in Pomfret, Conn.