Cirtus Bowl: Trinity at Hamilton 7 PM Friday 1/25/13

Who: Trinity College Bantams (8-4-3; 5-2-3) at Hamilton College Continentals  (5-8-3; 1-6-3)
Where: Sage Rink Clinton, NY

When: 7:00 PM Friday 1/25/13
Video/Audio: Hamilton Athletics

Offense :  2.80 G/GM scored (6th in NESCAC; 49th in Nation)
Defense : 1.93 G/GM allowed (2nd in NESCAC; 8th in Nation)
Power Play : 12/65 - 18.46% (6th in NESCAC; 40th in Nation) 
Penalty Kill :  57/67 - 85.1% (3rd in NESCAC; 18th in Nation) 




Offense :  2.00 G/GM scored (10th in NESCAC; <60th in Nation)
Defense : 2.94 G/GM allowed (6th in NESCAC; 36th in Nation) 
Power Play : 8/85 - 9.4% (10th in NESCAC; <60th in Nation)
Penalty Kill : 49/61 - 80.3% (6th in NESCAC;37th in Nation) 




The Lowdown: Citrus Bowl 
The Citrus Bowl is usually the first NESCAC home game at Sage Arena; this year it turns out to be the first home game of the spring semester. In the days of yesteryear, the game used to be called the Orange Bowl, named after the citrus spheres the rowdy student section would hurl at the opposing goalie upon the scoring of Hamilton's first goal. NESCAC and the Hamilton administration have since squashed the tradition, though it wouldn't have mattered last season, as the Continentals were blanked 2-0 by the Bantmas in December 2011.  Today, the Citrus Bowl sans oranges is still well attended, with free t-shirts handed out, student group performances and the always adorable Clinton youth hockey players taking the ice between periods.

As far as this year's matchup, Trinity enters the game tied for third with Amherst, whom they play tomorrow night. Hamilton takes the ice seventh in the 'CAC, three points ahead of Conn. College and two points behind Wesleyan. The Continentals have been bit by the injury bug, including last season's leading scorer Mike Dimare (F, Jr.), who will be out for this game. Trinity starting goal-tender Benjamin Coulthard (G, Jr.) left in the first period of last Friday's 5-2 win over Tufts and didn't return for the weekend, so it will be interesting to see if he plays tonight.

The teams first met back on Novemeber 30th, with the Continentals scoring in the third to tie it at 1-1 and ultimately winning 2-1 in OT. Box Score 

Key(s) to the game: Trap Door
With a big matchup with the Lord Jeffs looming, Trinity can't overlook the Continentals in this potential trap game. Besides having already lost to Hamilton this season, the pending three hour travel, 3 P.M. start time against Amherst and the unusually high turnout due to the Citrus Bowl serve as possible distractions for the Bantams. They need to stay focused.

Players to watch
Zachary Lombardi (F, Sr.) - The Bantams are 5-0-1 in games (mostly competitive ones) that Lombardi gets points (4-4-8).

Anthony Ruberto (F, Sr.) Can the Continentals leader in points (6-6-12) score in his last Citrus Bowl? Ruberto's next goal would be a career high for him.


In honor of the Cirtus Bowl and the NFL playoffs, here is DJ Steve Porter's bad-lip reading remix  "Orange Peanut"