Conference Preview 2/5/16

All games start at 7 PM EST, except the Williams/Trinity matchup that starts at 7:30 PM  and the Tufts/Conn College game at 8 PM. 

We've entered the home stretch, with only three weekends and six games left per team in the regular season. The featured game of the evening is the one with the 7:30 PM start in Hartford, between Trinity and Williams (Video). The first place Bantams, who lost to the Ephs earlier this season in Williamstown, enter the game one point ahead of Williams for first place. A win by the Ephs would jump them into first place and would give them a tiebreaker over the defending national champions.

The two Maine members of the 'CAC return from a week off and hit the road for their longest roadtrip of the season. Colby enters their game with Hamilton (Video) in a tie for the eighth and final playoff spot with Tufts at eight points. The Mules are winless on the road in conference play (0-4-1) this season and take on a Hamilton team in third place with 16 points that is 3-1-1 at home and dismantled the Mules 7-1 in Waterville earlier this year. 

Three hours eastbound and down, Bowdoin takes on an Amherst team (Video) that has an identical 4-5-3 record in conference, good enough for fifth in the 'CAC. Continuing with the even stevens theme, The teams last met earlier this year and skated to a 0-0 tie, the first of its kind for the Polar Bears in the 21st century. Like Colby, Bowdoin is seeking their first road win in conference as well as their first win outside of the friendly confines of Maine. The Polar Bears, however, also enter tonight's contest with a four game win streak, to contrast with Amherst' three game losing streak in conference. 

Heading back to Connecticut, fourth place Middlebury takes on seventh place Wesleyan (Video ), two teams that skated to a 3-3 tie earlier in January in Vermont. Up the road just outside Bah-stahn, eight place Tufts hosts last place and winless in conference Conn College (Video) for the first leg of a home-and-home this weekend. If the Camels can't come out of the weekend with at least a point, they would be eliminated from playoff contention if Wesleyan picks up even a point. 

The home stretch has got everyone under pressure, especially teams like Williams/Trinity battling for the top spot in the 'Cac. ZZ Top "Got Me Under Pressure"