Williams at Amherst 7 PM Friday 2/15/13

Who: Williams College Ephs (13-6-3;10-4-2) at Amherst College Lord Jeffs (14-5-3; 10-4-2)
Where: Orr Rink Amherst, MA

When: 7 PM Friday 2/15/13
Video/Audio: JeffCast

Offense: 3.00 G/GM scored (6th in NESCAC; 40th in Nation)
Defense: 2.00 G/GM allowed (3rd in NESCAC; 9th in Nation)
Power Play: 12/74 - 16.22% (7th in NESCAC; 56th in Nation)
Penalty Kill: 66/74- 87.8% (2nd in NESCAC; 5th in Nation)

 Offense: 3.27 G/GM scored (4th in NESCAC; 30th in Nation)

 Defense: 1.86 G/GM allowed (1st in NESCAC; 5th in Nation)

 Power Play: 18/80 - 22.5% (4th in NESCAC; 18th in Nation)

 Penalty Kill: 69/76 - 90.8% (1st in NESCAC; 1st in Nation)

The Lowdown: Grudge match

With Williams and Amherst as part of the threeway tie for second with Middlebury, the importance of this matchup between two traditional rivals cannot be understated. Amherst comes in after taking care of Tufts and Conn College in Nemo postponed games, while Williams split a home and home with Middlebury. The two teams met back on December 7th in Williamstown, with the Ephs taking the game 2-1 on a third period goal by Williams leading scorer Peter Mistretta (F, So.) . 

Key(s) to the game: 

1. Special teams

This game features two of the best defenses in the NESCAC and the two best penalty kills in the conference. Tim Costello of USCHO picked Amherst to win this game 4-2. Besides noting that seemed a bit high for this match-up, he said special teams would potentially be a key in the game.

2. Goaltending

While many teams have goaltending issues or platoons, both the Ephs and Lord Jeffs have clear cut starters in Sean Dougherty (G, So.) for Williams and Nathan Corey (G, Sr.) for Amherst. Dougherty is coming off his Joe Concannon Award semi-finalists selection, the only sophomore to be chosen on the list. Either Dougherty or Corey could be the difference maker in this game. 

Players to watch 

Peter Mistretta (F, So.) The Ephs leading scorer (14-6-20) was out last week against the Panthers. If he returns, he could be the key to an Ephs victory, as he was in the first game back in Williamstown. 

Johnny Van Siclen (F, Sr.) If the Lord Jeffs don't take care of business, Amherst could fall to the fifth seed and these would be the last two home games for the senior from Carlisle, MA. Van Siclen leads the team in goals (12-20-22) and scored the only Lord Jeff goal back in Williamstown. 

In honor of this rivalry, here is a segment ESPN did on the Williams/Amherst football game back in 2007.