Conference Roundup 1/8/2016

Hamilton (7-3-1; 3-2-1 NESCAC)  7
Colby (4-5-3; 2-4-1 NESCAC)       1
Box Score  Recap

The visiting Continentals scored two goals in the final 4:47 of the second period and three in the third to blow open what was a close game. The win breaks a five game winless streak against Colby for Hamilton dating back to January 2013. It is also the first time Hamilton scored 7+ goals since aNovember 2013.

For a team that has had trouble with secondary scoring in recent seasons, Hamilton must be pleased with seven different goal scorers in the game (Morin, Conway, Willett, Landowski, Brochu, Matheson, Gagnon) with none of them named Robbie Murden, who still has twice as many goals as anyone else on the team. One of the goal scorers, Brandon Willett, was enrolled at Colby in fall of 2013 but dropped out of school before ever being an official member of the Mules team.

The Continentals were adept at capitalzing on Colby mistakes and rebounds to run up the score the way they did. Hamilton went 2/7 on the power play and stopped all three Colby man advantages, bringing Hamilton's D-III nation best penalty kill unit to 95.5% (42 of 44), though they are second in conference play (95.8% - 23 of 24) to Williams, who is perfect on the PP in conference games for the season (21 of 21).

On the other side, Maine Hockey Journal writer Nathan Fournier's tweet below sums it up.

Yikes...Blaise MacDonald wasn't happy after Tuesday's 2-2 tie. He probably won't be happy tonight https://t.co/IeszMdTJMw

— Nathan Fournier (@jrhockeywriter) January 9, 2016

In net, Evan Buitenhuis stopped 25 shots to improve to 7-2-1 while Emerson Verrier had an off night, giving up 7 goals on 36 shots to fall to 4-5-3 on the season.


Amherst (3-4-4; 2-1-3  NESCAC)   0
Bowodoin (4-5-2; 2-3-2 NESAC)   0
Box Score    MHJ Recap     Bowdoin Recap

Peter Cronin made 46 saves for Bowdoin and Dave Cunningham made 30 to end the game as it began. It's the first 0-0 game a NESCAC team has been invovled in since January of last year and that also included Amherst. The Purple&White tied host Plattsburgh State in the holiday tournament with Amherst winning the tournament on penalty shots.

It was the first 0-0 tie for Bowdoin in the 21st century, but probably not the first 0-0 tie for coach Terry Meagher, who has been the bench boss at Bowdoin since the 80s, but it may be his last as (just another reminder) he announced prior to the season that this would be his last.