Tufts (6-8-1; 3-5-1 NESCAC) 3
Wesleyan (2-13-0; 1-8-0 NESCAC) 1
Box Score Recap
Brian Brown (F, '18) put in his team leading ninth goal on an empty net to seal Wesleyan's eighth consecutive NESCAC loss since beating the same Jumbos in the season opener. Stewart Bell (F, '16) and Blake Edwards (D, '15) also had tallies with Andrew White (F, '15) assisting on both goals. Robby Habirson (D, '17) had the only Cardinals goal on the evening.
Tufts now has the tough task of taking on the undefeated (in conference) Bantams of Trinity on Saturday. Wesleyan welcomes a Conn College team that has lost its last two to Hamilton and Trinity after a seven game unbeaten streak. The Camels beat the Cardinals 5-2 opening weekend in New London.
Colby (5-9-2; 2-7-2 NESCAC) 2
Williams (10-3-2; 6-2-1 NESCAC) 4
Box Score Recap
Williams outshot Colby 37-15 and scored three unanswered goals to overcome a 2-1 deficit towards the end of the 2nd period. Sam Parker (G, '15) stopped 33 Ephs shots but lost for the first time in conference this season to fall to 3-2-0 overall. Sean Dougherty stopped 13 to move to 8-3-1 on the season.
George Hunkele lead off the scoring in the first for the Ephs, but Devin Albert (F, '17)'s team leading eleventh and twelfth goals gave the visiting the Mules the lead with seven remaining in the second. Following up on his hat-trick against third ranked Plattsburgh last Saturday, Craig Kitto (F, '15) scored his team leading ninth goal to tie the contest up with less than 1:30 to play in the 2nd frame. Hunkele would add his second of the game in the third and Frankie Mork (D, '17) would put in a tally for the insurance goal.
The Mules head to Middlebury on Saturday for a matchup with a Panthers team that they tied 2-2 in Waterville earlier this season. Does Sam Parker get two NESCAC starts in a row for the first time this season? Williams welcomes a Bowdoin squad that they tied 3-3 in Maine opening weekend in a game that featured no penalty calls.
Hamilton (5-6-4; 4-4-2 NESCAC) 1
Amherst (11-3-2; 7-3-0 NESCAC) 3
Box Score Recap
Brendan Burke (F, '16) potted an empty netter to seal the second 3-1 Amherst victory over Hamilton this season. Barring a matchup of the two squads in the playoffs, Lord Jeff seniors will graduate with a 9-0-0 record against the Continentals.
Amherst took a 2-0 lead into the third period off late goals in the 1st and 2nd by Dan Merenich (F, '15) and Mike Rowbotham (F, '15), respectively. Amherst and Hamilton both went 0-2 on the power play but the Rowbotham goal shortly after a man advantage expired with some nice bing-bang-boom puck movement in the offensive zone. Hamilton's lone goal came from a Brad Smelstor upper-90 snipe from the left circle fourteen minutes into the third.
The Continentals - who were outshot 31-25 on the evening but held the shots advantage 11-7 in the final frame - maintained the offensive pressure the rest of the third, but were never able to beat Danny Vitale (G, '15), who improved to 4-2-2 on the season with a 2.07 GAA and a .929 Save%. The Jeffs only dressed two goaltenders as starting goalie Dave Cunningham (G, '15) is likely out for an extended period with a hip injury. Cunningham left last Friday's loss to Conn College in the third period due to the injury.
On the other end, Hamilton freshman Evan "Boots" Buitenhuis (G, '18) made his first start since leaving a November 28th matchup with Utica due to a concussion suffered after being run by a Pioneer. Boots took his first collegiate loss to fall to 1-1-1 but has a 1.45 GAA and .957 Save% in the small sample size of 207 minutes. Speaking of goalies, the refs whistle definitely wasn't frozen when it came to freezing the puck (AMIRITE?). The whistle was blown on several occasions when the netminders never even had full possession of the puck.
Hamilton returns home for their non-conference finale against Franklin Pierce Satruday night in the only OOC game on the NESCAC schedule. They are hosting 80s nights, so we kindly suggest that the Conts show up to the rink dressed as Patrick Bateman. The Lord Jeffs are off the rest of the weekend. Enjoy the beverages, boys.
Bowdoin (9-4-3; 4-4-3 NESCAC) 2
Middlebury (6-6-3;3-3-3 NESCAC) 2
Box Score Recap
Jason Nawrocki (F/D, '18) scored a goal with Max Fenkell (G, '15) pulled at the 18:38 of the 3rd to pull the Polar Bears even with the Panthers at two. It was the first collegiate goal for Nawrocki, who now has four games under his belt on account of the injury to Bowdoin third-leading scorer Matt Lison (F, '18).
Ryan Collier (F/D, '15)'s goal 15 seconds into the game was quickly matched by the Panthers power play goal two minutes later on a Collier cross-checking call. Evan Neugold (F, '16) scored the power play tally, the only such goal on Middlebury's six man advantages, which included an OT opportunity on a questionable boarding call on Matt Rubinoff (F, '16). The Panthers took the 2-1 lead early in the third on Mike Najaar(F, '17)'s fourth of the season.
Max Fenkell (G, '15) rebounded in conference from being pulled in the first of last weekend's 4-3 come from behind victory over Wesleyan to stop 34 of 36 Panthers shots (he also won out of conference against UNE this week). Reigning NESCAC POTW Stephen Klein (G, '18) stopped 17 shots to move to 5-4-1 on the season.
Bowdoin travels to Williams on Saturday with freshman Peter Cronin (G, '18) likely in net. Coach Meagher switched it up with Fenkell back-to-back starts last weekend but went to Cronin in the first period of the second game. Fenkell hasn't played against the Ephs since stopped 23 of their 24 shots to win the 2013 NESCAC tournament championship. For Middlebury, they host a Colby squad that they tied opening weekend with Liam Moorfield-Yee (G, '16) in net. Klein has since solidified the Panthers starting job having started the last eight straight.
Conn College (6-7-2; 3-5-1 NESCAC) 1
Trinity (13-1-1; 8-0-1 NESCAC) 3
Box Score Recap
Trinity scored three third period goals, including two on the power play, to erase a 1-0 Conn College lead after two periods. Ryan Mowery (F, '17) scored for Conn in the second while usual suspects Sean Orlando (F, '17) and Jackson Brewer (F, '15), and not so usual suspect Tim Shea (F, '15) scored for the victorious Bantams. Mike Hawkrigg (F, '16) had two assists to move just eleven points away form the 100 point club.
Nate Heilbron (G, '16) stopped 21 shots to move to 10-1-1 while Tom Conlin (G, '16) stopedd 29 shots to fall to 5-6-2. On Saturday, Trinity welcomes a Tufts team they dominated earlier this season while Conn looks to get back on track at bottom dweller Wesleyan.
Winter Storm Iola is blanketing the northeast with snow as NESCAC teams look to get red hot as all teams are now in the second half of the season. Red Hot Chili Peppers "Snow (Hey Oh)"
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