Linkstravaganza: 2/26/13

Student Newspapers
The Amherst Student chronicles the Lord Jeffs "gut-wrenching" end to their conference title defense, Saturday's 4-3 loss at home to Middlebury in the NESCAC Quarterfinals. The quote from Jack Arena sums it up. "When a season ends there are no moral victories...the guys were devasatated." Full article

The Wesleyan Argus covers the last game as a Cardinal for Wesleyan's 10 seniors, a "Route Nine Rivalry" OT loss to Trinity in the Quarterfinals. Full article 

The Williams Record has a piece on the Ephs 2-1 victory over Colby in the Quarters to send them to Bowdoin for a semifinal showdown with Trinity.  Coach Bill Kangas channels Reinhold Niebuhr when talking about the semis.  "They(Trinity) beat us last time in the year. They have a very good hockey team. We'll be ready to play and hopefully at out best. All we can control is ourselves." Full Article 

This is from a few weeks ago and we've talked about him before, but The Bowdoin Orient has a feature on Jon Landry that includes quotes from the NHL hopeful himself. Full Article

This op-ed  from The Middlebury Campus isn't about hockey directly, but addresses  the  "Fanhood Problem" at Middlebury.  Using the ski team's only home race of the season as a springboard, the piece examines what the writer feels is a "woefully negligent job promoting its athletics" by the college. We would be interested to hear what Middlebury hockey players/fans feel about this topic.  Full Article


NESCAC  
In their weekly release, the NESCAC chose Michael Hawkrigg (F, Fr.) (USCHO lists him as John) as the player of the week. From the release: "Hawkrigg had five points in a 2-0 week for the Bantams, scoring what turned out to be  the game-winning goal and adding a second tally in a 10-5 win over Bowdoin in the regular season finale on Monday. In a 5-4 overtime win against sixth seeded Wesleyan  in the NESCAC quarterfinals, Hawkrigg scored the game-tying goal to force overtime with 1:09 left. He then added the game-winner with 2:02 left in the extra frame. He also had an assist against the Cardinals to lift the third seeded Bantams to their first semifinal appearance since 2010."  Full release

The league released its official preview for championship weekend, hosted by a Bowdoin team that is having its "finest season in 25 years." Gives ticket information, as well as background on all four teams, including some historical tidbidts, like Middlebury's 5-0 record against Bowdoin in playoff games. Full article 

Athletic Department Sites 
Trinity's official hockey page has a preview for their appearance in championship weekend. Find it here .

Bowdoin has sold out its allotment of tickets for Saturday's NESAC Men's Ice Hockey Semifinal Doubleheader. There are expected to be a limited number of tickets available at the door, depending on how many tickets the other three schools return from their allotment. Find out info here.  

Williams has a little background for this weekend as well as info for Ticket Sales for their allotment of tickets here. 

Middlebury reproduces the league's preview, and more importantly has ticket sale information, including online ordering, here. 

Coaches 
Trinity College Bantams men's ice hockey coach and alum Matt Greason ('03) was interviewed this week  on WRTC 89.3 FM's jazz show "The Kitchen Sink" (File under: only on college radio). Topics covered included this weekend's NESCAC Semifinals at Bowdoin, Greason's ties to the state of Maine, the Menard Twins, Ben Coulthard's standout year, Greason's mentor and longtime Bantam coach John Dunham (Brown '65 Go Brunonia!)  and more. Listen to the full interview here.

Colby assistant coach Chris Hall put up a post on his blog about the end of the season, praising his team's efforts and pointing out that in sports, no matter how well you play, someone must lose.  "On Saturday we lost, not because we played poorly or we were outclassed, but because someone wins and someone loses." He then called for a commitment from everyone involved in the program and reminded us just how excruatingly long the NESCAC offseason is, saying he can't wait for "November 1, 2013."  

Predictions 
The Burlington Free Press kicks off what is sure to be a few days of predictions from publications for NESCAC men's hockey championship weekend. Find out who they have winning Saturday's two games and Sunday's championship, here.