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HARRISVILLE, R.I.--Senior Andy Cramer continued his strong play of late with two points, and junior Chris Lembo matched him in scoring, but the Western New England University men's hockey team lost an 8-3 decision to host Nichols College in Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast action on Sunday at Levy Rink. Despite the loss, the Golden Bears (5-15-3 overall, 5-8 ECAC Northeast) still lead the all-time series against the Bison (19-3-3, 11-1-2) 30-29-6. Nichols wraps up the regular season title and will be the No. 1 seed in the ECAC Northeast Tournament.

Frank Butler registered a hat trick for Nichols, which outshot Western New England 52 to 33. Joe Sposit and Scott Cuthrell added three assists apiece while Sean Fleming also had three points on a goal and two helpers.

Nichols jumped out to a 1-0 just 1 minute and 40 seconds gone on a goal by Joey Quintana and the Bison made it 3-0 by the end of the opening period on the first goals of the season by Barry O'Neil and Mike O'Brien 34 seconds apart beginning with 4:56 remaining.

Western New England, however, scored three of the contest's next four goals to pull within 4-3 by the 14:05 mark of the second stanza. Cody Rodgers scored what proved to be the game-winner, his first goal of the season at 6:37, but Cramer potted his fifth tally at the 10:48 mark to ignite a Golden Bears' three-goal rally in a span of 3:17. Lembo made it 4-2 at 13:11 on assists from Cramer and senior assistant captain Michael Darrar, and sophomore Josh Twietmeyer made it a one-goal game by scoring his fourth at 14:05 on helpers by senior Joe Budnick and sophomore Tyler Pionk.

Cramer has three goals and five points in his last four outings.

After Butler scored his first of three goals on the afternoon to make it 5-3, Nichols delivered a back-breaking goal with just 6 seconds left as Fleming found the back of the net to double the lead 6-3.

Western New England freshman goalie Kyle Wilkinson made his collegiate debut in the third period by making three saves on three shots he faced for the final 7:23 to replace classmate Scott Brown, who finished with 41 stops in his career-long third consecutive start.

Nichols starting goalie Patrick Salkind made 17 saves over 40 minutes to improve to 3-0.

The Golden Bears return to action on Tuesday at Suffolk (5 p.m.) at Emmons Horrigan O'Neill Memorial Rink in Charlestown. This conference game was originally scheduled for Feb. 10, but was pushed back because the Rams' primary facility was closed due to a snowstorm.

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