Men’s ice hockey (9-10-2, 5-8-1 ECAC) defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (10-14-2, 5-9-0 ECAC) on Friday in an 11-goal overtime thriller before dropping Saturday’s match to Union (15-9-2, 8-5-1 ECAC) 2-1, losing their five-game win streak.
Bruno needed a hero against RPI as both defenses lapsed and offenses drove the game. Brian Nicholas ’28 rose to the occasion, scoring his first collegiate hat trick — including a game-winning point in the final minute of overtime — and the Bears took the game 6-5.
Nicholas’s performance would lead to his selection as the ECAC Rookie of the Week, making him the second Bruno rookie to win the award this season.
“I am extremely happy and honored,” Nicholas wrote in a message to the Herald.
Nicholas got started early in the match, scoring after just seven minutes played. Finding his way onto a pass by Tyler Kopff ’27, Nicholas slotted home his first goal of the night to put Bruno up 1-0.
Against RPI, Kopff and Nicholas perfected the chemistry that every good attacking unit needs. Kopff was instrumental in the build-up to every goal that Nicholas scored, notching four assists and a goal of his own.
Nicholas credited his win to his teammates, specifically acknowledging the contributions of Kopff ’27 and Charlie Gollob ’27. “To me this reward is shared with my linemates as they played tremendously this weekend,” he wrote.
After holding the lead for only four minutes, Bruno’s defenses were broken down. Chaos broke out in front of Bruno’s goal, and through the quagmire, RPI found their equalizer with a goal at 11:54.
The game then leveled out: Both teams rushed the other’s goal and took their shots, but neither found the go-ahead goal. Late in the period, RPI was called for a hooking penalty.
Kopff took advantage of the power play opportunity, firing a long range shot past three defenders and two Bruno players. The puck slotted perfectly into the upper right corner of the RPI goal, winning Bruno back their lead.
In Friday’s match, Kopff’s goal was the only power play the Bears were able to convert out of their three opportunities.
Minutes into the second period against RPI, Bruno was flying high. But the Engineers tied the score early in the second period, with Nicholas firing back shortly after to make it a 3-2 game.
Though Bruno’s power play unit recorded meager success this weekend, they were able to punish RPI while on a man disadvantage. Ivan Zadvernyuk ’28 was called for a buttending penalty, putting Bruno a man down for five minutes. But a clever steal by Tony Andreozzi ’25 turned the 5-on-4 disadvantage into a 2-on-2 with Bruno on the attack. His quick thinking was crucial as he squared the puck for Zackary Tonelli ’26 to slot in at the back door.
The Bears found another goal at the end of the period to go up 5-2, with Kopff and Gollob linking up for some beautiful, intricate passing. Gollob shot the puck home and the Bears seemed poised to celebrate their fifth win in a row.
“As a team we’ve been working through some new line combinations to try to ignite some offense, which has been working as of late,” Kopff wrote. “As a line, we met a few times throughout the week to try to put together a game plan and thankfully we were able to execute pretty well on Friday.”
But the Bears had a disastrous third period. RPI responded to Bruno’s four-goal period with three goals of their own. Suddenly, heading into overtime, Bruno faced the real possibility of losing the game.
No team was able to break through in extra time, and it looked more and more like Bruno had let this one slip through their fingers. But Nicholas — in true heroic fashion — stepped up when the team needed him most.
With time winding down, Kopff laid the puck off for Nicholas. Nicholas skated past his defender, putting him through on goal. With a little trickery, Nicholas rounded the goalkeeper, slotted the puck in the net, and won the game with a completed hat trick.
But Bruno couldn’t follow up with a win against Union, going down 2-0 by the halfway point of the second period. Tonelli found the net in the third for a consolation goal, but the Bear’s five-game winning streak came to an end with their dismal power play performance: Despite being given eight power play opportunities, Bruno were unable to score.
But Bruno’s players have lost no confidence in their ability.
“Despite the loss Saturday, we are heading into the weekend with lots of confidence having won five out of our last six games,” Kopff wrote. “We feel that we are really clicking offensively and need to bring back our identity defensively.”
The Bears face down Yale on Thursday and Sunday for a rivalry matchup. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Dennis Carey is a Sports editor who enjoys playing volleyball, listening to and collecting vinyl records and poorly playing the guitar in his spare time.
