Williams Men's Hockey 2012-13: Regular Season Review

In the leadup to the NESCAC playoffs, we are doing season reviews for all ten NESCAC teams in order from last place Tufts to first place Bowdoin
2. Williams Ephs 

2012-2013 Record 
15-6-3 Overall
12-4-2 NESCAC (2nd in NESCAC) 

Overall  (Conference Rank)             Conference Games (conf. rank)
Offense: 3.08 G/GM (6th)                                 Offense: 3.00 G/GM (6th)

Defense: 2.04 G/GM (2nd)                                Defense: 1.94 G/GM (1st)

Power Play:  13/80-26.2% (9th)                         Power Play: 11/61 -18.0% (6th) 

Penalty Kill: 71/83  - 85.5% (3rd)                     Penalty Kill: 56/64 - 87.5% (1st)

Preseason Predictions

The Ephs finished fifth in the NESCAC in 2011-12 (12-9-5; 8-8-2), beating Tufts in OT in the first round of the playoffs but then losing to Amherst, 2-1, in the conference semi-finals. Citing uncertainty in net after graduating Ryan Purdy (G, '12) and a lack of roster depth , USCHO and the WordPress Blog both had the Ephs finishing seventh in the NESCAC. 

Season Review 

The Ephs started the season in Maine, losing to Bowdoin but defeating Colby. They then split a pair of non-conference games, beating St. Olaf but losing to Gustavus Adolphus. Williams would then reel off a seven game undefeated streak (6-0-1), with the only tie coming in a hard fought 1-1 goalie duel between Ephs breakout sophomore Sean Dougherty (G, So.) and Trinity's  Ben Coulthard (G, Jr.).   

Up next was a pair of matchups with nationally ranked non-conference foes. The Ephs dropped a heartbreaker against NESCAC nemesis Plattsburgh (the Cardinals beat NESCAC teams 3 of 4 times this season), 5-4, in OT; a game in which Williams led 4-1 in the third period. The Ephs then tied Babson a few days later. 

After losing at Bowdoin, Williams would win four straight (including three in conference) before losing at home to Trinity. The next night they would tie Wesleyan, 0-0, in a futue of the NESCAC goalie duel between Dougherty and the Cardinal's freshman Nolan Daley (G, Fr.). They would split a home and home with travel partner Middlebury, heading into the final weekend of the season in a threeway tie for second with Amherst and the aforementioned Panthers. Dougherty would make 35 saves as the Ephs beat the Lord Jeffs, 4-2, and earned a season sweep of their bitter rivals. In their final regular season game, the Ephs were surprisingly down 3-0 in the third aginast Hamilton, but rallied for a 4-3 OT win over the Continentals. 

The Ephs ended the season in second, far better than anyone anticipated. They will host seventh seed Colby on Saturday, February 23rd at 1PM in the Quarterfinals of the NESCAC playoffs. 

High Point

Their four game win streak in late January. The Ephs headed into their home matchup with Trinity just two points behind first place Bowdoin with six to play. Unfortunately for them, they were then vanquished by the Bantams. 

Low Point 

Williams stayed near the top of the standings most of the season and neither had any losing streaks nor terrible losses. While it had no effect on the rest of the season and was a non-conference game, the collapse against Plattsburgh was frustrating and ended the Ephs seven game unbeaten streak. 

MVP

Sean Dougherty (G, So.) The only sophomore Joe Concannon semifinalist led the conference in overall goals against average (GAA) 2.03 and was tied for GAA in conference games 1.93. He was second in both overall save percentage (.931) and conference save percentage (.934). If there was a question mark for the Ephs in net heading into the season, there isn't anymore.