PAWTUCKET, R.I.  – The Salve Regina University men's ice hockey team defeated Johnson and Wales Univeristy 3-1 in ECAC Northeast action at Lynch Arena on Thursday evening.

The first period saw plenty of back-and-forth action to things underway with the Wildcats tallying the game's first goal with over four minutes remaining in the opening period. Junior Luke Nickels (Chicago, Ill.) connected on a shot from the blue line that gave him his first collegiate goal and JWU a 1-0 lead heading into the locker room after the first period. Salve held the 12-9 advantage in shots despite the deficit.

Both teams couldn't connect on breakaway opportunities to begin the second period and the Wildcats held the one goal lead into the second intermission. The Seahawks got on the board just 1:40 into the third period with a power play goal by Marc Biggs (Plano, Texas), assisted by Alex Pompeo (Hingham, Mass.). With a little over seven minutes remaining, Lucas Sousa (Bellierica, Mass.) put in what would prove to be the game winner on a pass from Michael Naso (Londonderry, N.H.)  that gave SRU the 2-1 lead in the final period. An empty netter with :19 remaining sealed the game for Salve Regina en route to the 3-1 win.

Sophomore Joey Ballmer (Kalamazoo, Mich.) made 25 saves in the win while Alex Devine (Hampton, N.H.) had 23 stops in net for the Seahawks.

With the setback, JWU falls to 10-7-1 and 4-3 in ECAC Northeast play while Salve Regina improves to 6-8-2 overall and 4-3 in conference action. JWU will be back in action on Saturday night when they travel to Suffolk for an ECAC Northeast matchup beginning at 7:00 p.m. Salve Regina returns to the ice on Saturday January 31 to face Wentworth.