Hamilton Men's Hockey 2012-2013: Regular Season Review

In the leadup to the NESCAC playoffs, we are doing season reviews for all ten NESCAC teams in order from Tufts to Bowdoin. 

8.  Hamilton Continentals 

2012-2013 Record:
6-15-3 Overall
4-12-2 NESCAC (8th in NESCAC)

Stats:
Overall  (Conference Rank)                       Conference Games (conf. rank)
Offense: 2.21 G/GM (10th)                              Offense: 2.33 G/GM (9th)

Defense: 3.67 G/GM (9th)                               Defense: 3.56 G/GM (7th)

Power Play: 13/121 -10.7% (10th)                    Power Play: 10/87 -11.5% (10th) 

Penalty Kill: 70/92 - 76.1% (8th)                      Penalty Kill: 50/67 - 74.6% (9th)

Preseason predictions
The past few seasons have been a time of transition for Hamilton men's hockey. After winning the NESCAC regular season crown in 2010-11, their best finish since winning the ECAC-East in 1997-98, the Continentals were upset in the Quarterfinals of the NESCAC playoffs by eighth seed Wesleyan. Then, the Continentals lost NESCAC Coach of the Year Norm Bazin, who took the head coaching job at Division 1 UMass-Lowell, followed by NESCAC Player of the Year Joe Houk (D), who followed Bazin to Lowell.

Under new coach Rob Haberbusch the Conts finished the 2011-12 season tied with Conn College for eighth (8-14-3 overall; 4-12-2 NESCAC). Hamilton made the playoffs (owned tiebreaker over Camels), where they lost to top seeded and eventual NESCAC Champion/Frozen Four Participant Amherst. 

Heading into this season, Hamilton was picked to finish ninth by both USCHO and The WordPress Blog. They returned 2012-2012 All-NESCAC first team forward Michael DiMare (F, Jr.) but lost their second leading scorer Anthony Scarpino (F, '12), who now plays professionally in Sweden. 

Season Review
Hamilton's struggles on offense all season were foreshadowed by their opening weekend home and home against travel partner Amherst.   The Continentals dropped both games against the Lord Jeffs, 1-0, and then had the unfortunate fate of following it up with a nationally ranked opponent, Hobart, who had already played eight games to that point. Hamilton lost 8-1 and senior defenseman Phil DiDonato (D, Sr.) went down with a season ending injury. Hamilton followed it up by blowing a 3-1 third period lead against D-III bottom dwelling Morrisville, to tie the Mustangs 3-3. 

After the (0-3-1) start, Haberbusch's troops earned their first win of the season in a hard fought affair at Trinity, winning, 2-1, in OT. The team would then play their third consecutive OT game, tying Wesleyan, 1-1, on the strength of a Marko Brelih (D, Fr.) goal with 54 seconds remaining.  After two one goal conference losses on the road to Middlebury/Williams, Hamilton closed out 2012 with a 2-0 non conference win at home against Curry on New Year's Eve.

The Conts opened up 2013 with a two week homestand. They handled Colby in uncharacteristically offensive fashion, 6-3, before losing to Bowdoin 6-2. The following weekend they salvaged a 2-2 tie with Conn College on a Dom Jancaterino (D/F, Jr.) goal with 6.4 seconds remaining; the next night they beat Tufts 3-1. 

But then the wheels came off the season a bit. The Clinton, NYers went (1-7-0) in their next eight, including five straight conference games. They had a rash of injuries, including season enders to Dimare and co-captain Evan Haney (F, Jr.).  In the middle of the stretch, they lost, 11-3, at home in a listless performance against Wesleyan. The night before, they lost, 1-0, on a late goal by Trinity for the second straight shutout in the "Orange Bowl." 

With a playoff berth on the line and losing 3-2 to Conn after two periods on 2/11, Hamilton scored 5 goals in the third for a 7-3 win - the highest offensive output on the year- to save the season. They opened the final weekend with a 6-1 loss to Middlebury. On Senior Day, the Conts brought a 3-0 lead into the second half of the third period against nationally ranked Williams and seemed poised to earn the seventh seed in the NESCAC playoffs. But Haberbusch's squad let up three goals in the final six minutes and lost 4-3 in OT to fall to the eighth seed. 

Hamilton will play in Brunswick, ME against top seeded Bowdoin in the Quarterfinals of the NESCAC playoffs on Saturday, February 23rd at 1PM. 

High Point
After the win over Tufts at home, Hamilton sat at sixth in the conference with 8 points, just one point behind fifth place Trinity at that time. Honorable mention to the third period at Conn College that saved their season.

Low Point
The 11-3 thrashing by Wesleyan at home, less than 24 hours after losing the Orange Bowl,1-0, on a late goal by Trinity. The main tradition of the Orange Bowl, the best attended game at Sage Rink of the season, is to throw oranges on the ice when the Continentals score their first goal. For the second straight year, both times against the Bantams, fans didn't even get a chance to throw the contraband citrus (the school has officially banned the practice).

If Conn somehow pulled out the OT win at Bowdoin, thus eliminating Hamilton from the playoffs, the Senior Day collapse would easily have been the lowest point. But the Camels didn't, and the Conts did make the playoffs, so that loss isn't the selection here.

MVP
Anthony Ruberto (F, Sr.) With the Conts losing the scoring of Dimare, even before his season ending injury, the team needed someone to step up his production. The Senior from Ontario ended up leading the Continentals in scoring (9-9-18) for the highest output of his collegiate career; scored in all four conference wins, including multi-point games in three of them: @Trinity (1-1-2), Colby (1-2-3), @Conn College (1-2-3).