Men’s Ice Hockey Opener Spoiled by Alvernia, 4-3

NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier men's ice hockey team narrowly fell to Alvernia, 4-3, in its season opener on Friday night at Conway Arena. The Raiders fell to 0-1-0 while the Golden Wolves started the season at 1-0-0.

Alvernia's Isaac Chapman scored the first goal of the evening, sliding a shot from the left corner past Luke Newell who was occupying the Rivier crease to give his team a 1-0 advantage just 20 seconds in.

Just over five minutes later, Damon Kiyawasew netted his first collegiate goal on a heads-up play in which he picked off a Golden Wolves' outlet pass and snuck a shot past Jacob Stern to tie the game up at 1-1.

In the early stages of the second period, the Raiders would score back-to-back goals to take a 3-1 edge in the contest. Alfred Rotiroti scored the first of the pair, tipping in a shot from the point from Tyler Duderstadt at the left point on a powerplay opportunity before another Duderstadt point shot had its rebound banked in by Nicolas Paolucci just 34 seconds later.

Matthew Davies of Alvernia would score two consecutive goals of his own in the middle of the period to re-tie the game at 3-3 heading into the final 20 minutes of regulation.

Davies would complete a natural hat trick with 11:38 to play in the third as he scooped a loose puck in the attacking zone and fired it home to regain a 4-3 lead for the Golden Wolves which would remain until the final buzzer.

Stern made 30 saves protecting the Alvernia cage in the victory, while Newell mustered 22 saves in the setback. Alvernia was 1-for-4 on the man-advantage, while Rivier went 1-for-6.

The Raiders and the Golden Wolves will conclude their two-game series on Saturday, Oct. 28 at Conway Arena with a 7:30 p.m. start time.