Marlboro, Mass. – Sophomore Nicholas McKee (Bakersfield, Calif.) tallied his eighth goal of the season in Becker College's 5-1 loss to Johnson & Wales University in Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast action Sunday night at the New England Sports Center.

Tonight's game featured the Ice Hawks donning purple jerseys for their fourth annual cancer awareness game, in honor of teammate Gerald Owen who is battling esophageal cancer. The event raises money for the Joanne Sullivan Cancer Foundation, wife of Associate Head Coach Walter Sullivan, which donates all proceeds to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass.

Johnson and Wales (12-8-1, 6-4 ECAC NE) opened the scoring at the 3:17 mark when Stefan Brucato (Lake Elsinore, Calif.) tipped in a Matt Lanzilotti (Chicago, Ill.) shot from the point for a power-play goal and an early 1-0 lead.  The Hawks answered less than three minutes later.  Sophomore Kyle Godfrey (Geneva, Ill.) feed a pass to Connor Merrick (Manchester, NH) who had broken in behind the defense. Wildcats' netminder Joey Ballmer (Kalamazoo, MI) made the initial stop, however  McKee  was on the doorstep to tip the twine to notch the score at 1-1.

The Wildcats posted two goals in twenty-one seconds midway thru  the opening frame to build a 3-1 lead. Sophomore Drew Kariofiles (Cincinnati, Ohio) scored first off a pass from Jason Healey (Goshen, NY) while Connor Bates (Laconia, NH) followed with a wrist shot at the top of the left circle that beat Hawks goaltender Tyler Stepke (Mars, PA) top-shelf.

JWU continued the scoring in the second period. Sophomore Ben Brouillard (Somerset, MA) made it a 4-1 game, converting a pass from sophomore Logan Fortier (Newport, VT) past Hawks' Gregg Hussey (Medford, MA) who had replaced Stepke to start the frame. Senior Jason Healey (Goshen, NY) finished the scoring at 7:22 with a power-play goal for the 5-1 final.

The teams skated to a scoreless third period. Johnson & Wales outshot Becker 33-30 on the night. The Wildcats also converted 2-for- 7 with the man-advantage while the Hawks were 0-for-4 with the extra skater. Ballmer finished the night with 29 saves, while Stepke and Hussey combined for 28 stops in the loss.

The Hawks return to action on Wednesday evening when they travel to Salve Regina University for a 7:35 pm tilt. The Wildcats will battle Curry College on Thursday night at 6:40 pm.