The 'Cac is Back!...and so are we

Team activities start on November 1st, but the NESCAC season really kicks off in earnest with opening night on the 15th. We have been delinquent with coverage this fall thanks to other professional/personal duties, but we have come back along with the 'Cac. Proper (belated) season previews will be posted the  week of Thanksgiving with the added input of two weekends of action to evaluate.

But enough with the excuses, it's been 247 days since a NESCAC team last stepped on the ice for an intercollegiate hockey game when Bowdoin lost a thriller to SUNYAC powerhouse Oswego in the 2014 NCAA D-III Men's hockey playoff opening round. So on to the puck! 

Amherst at Hamilton 

Sage Arena, Clinton, NY

7 PM   Video Feed

The only set of travel partners playing each other this weekend and the only two teams that will play one game opening weekend. The Jeffs own the Conts in recent history, including winning the last seven in a row since the ECAC/NESCAC interlock ended in 2011. Amherst enters the season after a disappointing double OT loss to Bowdoin in the 2014 NESCAC championship while Hamilton comes off a disappointing season in which they finished 9th and missed the conference playoffs. Watch out for the goalie matchup between reigning second team All-NESCAC goalie Dave Cunningham from Amherst and likely Cont starter, the highly touted freshman Evan Buitenhuis. 

Cunningham is a Bruce Springstein fan (if we're not mistaken, he's got a quote from the Boss on his helmet) and everyone starts the season with high hopes, so here's a live version of "High Hopes" featuring Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine playing the gee-tar with his face. So there's that.

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Williams at Colby 

Alfond Rink, Waterville, ME

7 PM  Video Feed

The Mules look to exact a little revenge as their past two seasons have ended with NESCAC Quarterfinal losses in Williamstown. The Ephs look to rebound from a disappointing loss to arch-nemesis Amherst in the 2014 NESCAC semis. Williams fell to the third seed in the conference playoffs after a promising start that had them poised mid-season to win the regular season crown. They return First Team All-NESCAC goalie Sean Dougherty and a solid crop of skaters and should be solidly in the top half of the 'Cac this season. On the other side, Blaise Macdonald and Chris Hall have done a nice job with a player development since arriving in Waterville. They'll need to expedite the maturation process this year as they lost their top four scorers and their roster features 17 underclassmen. Keep an eye out for the new Mules broadcast as they become the latest NESCAC team to join the NSN roster.

In honor of the youth movement in Waterville and the season being off to the races, here's iconic band Sonic Youth with a Letterman performance of "Bull in the Heather", named after racehorse Bull InThe Heather. Also, please take note of Kim Gordon wearing a John Starks jersey. 

Middlebury at Bowdoin 
Sid Watson Arena, Brunswick, ME
7 PM Video Feed

The marquee matchup of the evening and another rematch of the 2014 NESCAC quarters as the fifth seed Polar Bears disposed of the fourth seed Panthers on the way to the rare bottom half-seeded 'Cac crown after a disappointing regular season. Bowdoin enters the season ranked 13th nationally in both the USCHO and D3Hockey.com polls. Middlebury has a talented group of skaters as well but the key difference here is in net. The Polar Bears have senior Max Fenkell, who presumably will take over the starting job full time after splitting time with Steve Messina ('14) the past two seasons. For the Panthers, they have a question mark. Last year they used four goalies and none of them were all that impressive.

As the traditional powers in the NESCAC look to be the big man in the 'Cac this year, here's former Middlebury student Chadwick Stokes Urmston's band State Radio with "Big Man" 

Wesleyan at Tufts 
Malden Valley Forum, Malden, MA
7 PM Video Feed Stats

2014 was not a memorable year for either the Cardinals or Jumbos. Wesleyan did make a late season push to make the playoffs but was ceremonially dismantled by travel partner Trinity in the Quarterfinals; Tufts finished in last place for the second year in a row, though they did close out the season with a big win over Bowdoin in the regular season finale. Questions abound on both sides of the ice for both teams, with less question marks for the Cardinals, who at least return their two goalies and the surprise scoring machine Elliot Vorel. Tufts will look to one of their three new netminders to provide a reliable presence between the pipes.

The recent past has not been kind to either team, but everyone starts the season at 0-0 with a fresh start. So we present Sage Francis' " I was Zero" 

 


Trinity at Connecticut College
Dayton Rink, New London, CT
7 PM Video Feed

This one's an interesting matchup of the most recent NESCAC Coach of The Year award winners. Trinity enters the season as the prohibitive NESCAC favorites returning nearly all the firepower from one of the best goal scoring teams in the country. They lost their goalie in Ben Coulthard, but Nate Heilbron has looked solid in net in his 12 appearances. The pollsters have them at #7 (D3Hockey) and #10 (USCHO), but the respect they wanted nationally was from the NCAA selection committee last season. The Bantams got snubbed from an at-large bid to the dance after losing to Bowdoin in the 2014 semis. They'll be focused on winning the NESCAC tournament this year to make it a moot point for the committee.

On the other side, it will be interesting to see if the Camels can continue the late season push from last year, which saw them rise from a playoff afterthought to the seventh seed and a near upset of Amherst in the Quarterfinals. The Camels played the Bantams close last time they met in New London in January of this year with the Bantams coming out victorious with an OT goal from Sean Orlando in OT.

The Bantams enter the season with the target on their back as the favorites. We close out the opening night preview with a little old school style hip hop from Jurassic 5 with "Great Expectations" . The praise is all well and good, but the Bantams still need to produce on the ice or their season will become another Dickens' novel, Hard Times.