Let's just gloss over our continued delinquency this season in any medium not limited to 140 characters and get straight to a jampacked night of NESCAC puck.
Amherst (5-6-4; 4-3-3 NESCAC ) 0
Hamilton (10-3-2; 6-2-2 NESCAC) 2
Box Score Hamilton Recap
Sophomore Evan Buitenhuis stopped 23 shots for his third shutout this season and Robbie Murden scored a goal and assisted on another to lift the Continentals past the athletes formerly known as Lord Jeffs for the first Hamilton win over Amherst since January 10, 2006, a vanquishing 3,664 days in the making.
All the scoring came in the first with Brandon Willett's goal coming on the power play, one of four in the period for the Continentals, including a man advantage in the waning seconds of the opening frame bleeding into almost minutes of the second on a Conor Brown game misconduct after a hit to the head to a Cont (Lamberti, maybe?). Dave Cunngingham stopped 32 shots in defeat for the Purple and White.
The win also extended Hamilton's streak without a loss to ten games (8-0-2) the longest such streak in over sixty years for the program. Rob Haberbusch gets his first win over Amherst as Hamilton coach, something two time NESCAC Coach of The Year (2010, 2011) and current D-1 UMass-Lowell coach Norm Bazin was not able to do in his time in Clinton, NY.
The game featured the usually dubious "color-on-color" matchup pitting the black road jerseys of Amherst vs the pink jerseys of Hamilton. In this case it was an acceptable visual dissonance as The Conts had a Pink the Rink night to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
Hamilton, who features one of the the best goalies statistically in the D-III nation (the other is also an underclassmen in the ''CAC, Williams freshman Michael Pinios), finish out their cupcake of an out-of-conferencce schedule on Saturday night at Sage against 3-12 Daniel Webster, a tema in their first year of D-III competition. If the Continentals take care of business against their lowly opponents tonight, they will likely find themselves in the D3Hockey.com and USCHO polls. Would be a nice milestone for a program that was left out of the NESCAC playoffs as recently as 2013-14, but there's still plenty of puck to be played where it matters in the NESCAC. The Conts are currently tied with Trinity for first, but will only leave the weekend in that position if Trinity loses to Conn College and Williams doesn't beat Colby.
For the struggling, reigning NESCAC champ LJs, they are off the rest of the weekend but finish out of their OOC schedule next Tuesday against Assumption College. While Amherst may be struggling compared to their success in recent seasons, the Purple and White will be at most three points away from a home playoff spot heading into the final four weeks, so all is not lost.
Middlebury (5-6-4; 4-1-4 NESCAC) 4
Colby (5-7-4; 3-6-2 NESCAC) 2
Box Score Recap
Middlebury junior blueliner Andrew Neary deflected a Ron Fishman shot 5:26 into the third to break a 2-2 tie for what proved to be the game winner. Colby had fought back form a 2-0 deficit in the second with two goals from usually light scorers Jonathan Sdao and Scott Fenwick, (yes, those Fenwicks). Stephen Klein made 31 saves to improve to 4-5-1 while Colby's workhorse Emerson Verrier fell to 5-7-4 with a 24 save effort.
Colby, currently sitting in 7th/8th in the Cac standings, hosts a Williams, a team reeling from a tough loss at Bowdoin, on Saturday. Middlebury, who broke a three game losing streak on Friday and currently sits in fourth, travels to Bowdoin, a team the Panthers tied opening weekend.
Wesleyan (1-7-7 NESCAC; 1-2-6 NESCAC) 5
Conn College (3-10-2; 0-7-2 NESCAC) 2
Box Score Recap
Junior forward James Kline has his team leading ninth and tenth goals of the season to lift the Wesleyan Cardinals to...that's right, something other than a tie!...their first win of the season, inside or outside of the 'Cac. Last year the Cardinals finished as cellar dwellers in the 'Cac, never tying in a 3-21 season.
Wesleyan's Quincy Oujevolk and Conn College's Jon Paris notched their first collegiate goals in New London in what appeared to be a cub scout outing in the standings. The Cardinals Dawson Sprigings made 24 saves to get to 1-5-7 while reigning Second Team All-NESCAC goalie Tom Conlin made only 16 saves to fall to 3-8-2. It's been a disappointing season for the Camels, who currently sit winless in the NESCAC after a season in which they had their first home playoff game and first NESCAC playoff win. There's still four weeks left in NESCAC play, but if Jim Ward's charges don't start turning it around soon they will find themselves out of contention for a NESCAC playoff spot sooner than later.
The Cardinals look for their second win against ninth placed Tufts (who, you guessed it, they tied opening weekend in November) on Saturday while Conn College hosts first place and defending national champion Trinity. A win against the Bantams could be a catalyst for a Conn College second half turnaround.
Trinity (11-3-1; 7-2-0 NESCAC) 3
Tufts (5-6-4; 1-5-3 NESCAC) 2
Box Score Recap
Tufts freshman David Lackner got the Jumbos on the board first in the second, but the Bantams answered back with three second period goal (Mandigo, Sabitsky, Vered) to hold on for a 3-2 victory. Trinity dominated play, outshooting Tufts 49-22 on the night. Maine transfer Nik Nugnes made 46 saves in defeat and along with reigning NESCAC Player of the Week and Mason Pulde, both Jumbos goalies are in the top 10 in D-III in save percentage. Now if they could just get some defense in front of them, the Jumbos would have a good chance of moving into the playoff picture.
Trinity, who is currently tied with Hamilton for the top spot in thWilliams e NESCAC, can claim sole possession of the top spot with a win over last place Conn College on Saturday. The Jumbos host Wesleyan looking to inch closer to the eighth and final playoff spot.
Williams (10-4-1; 6-2-1 NESCAC) 0
Bowdoin (6-7-3; 3-5-3 NESCAC) 1
Box Score Recap
Opening weekend in Williamstown, Bowdoin only scored one goal against Williams in a 4-1 loss. Last night in Brunswick, the Polar Bears again only scored one goal against the Ephs, but it was enough for a win thanks to Peter Cronin's 33 save shutout, the third of the season for the sophomore. Williams frohs Michael Pinios was also excellent in net with 29 saves despite the loss and ended the night with the best GAA (1.114) and tied (with Hamilton's Evan Buitenhuis) for the best save percentage (.959) in the D-III MIH nation. It was an all underclassmen night, as Polar Bear leading scorer and rookie Cody Todesco scored the only tally (you can see him call for the puck in the slot and bury it in the Bowdoin recap link above.
The Ephs travel to Colby Saturady looking for a chance at first place with a win and Trinity loss or tie. For Bowdoin, they look to make a push into the upper half of the NESCAC against Middlebury.
The last time Hamilton beat Amherst, George Bush was President, most current NESCAC players were just learning to check, Joe Thornton was on his way to a Hart Memorial Trophy, and the remaining members of Hot Water Music formed The Draft after the departure of Chuck Ragan. In honor of the constant dogfight, week-by-week in the NESCAC, here's The Draft's 2006 "Alive or Dead".
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