NCAA Tournament First Round

Salem State   1
Williams       7
Box Score

Williams scored late in the first period of their first ever NCAA D-III men' s hockey tournament game and never looked back.

Shortly after a faceoff in the Salem State zone, Colby Cretella got the puck to George Hunkele, who fended off a defender to Zelzer's left and shot it at the goalie. Zelzer deflected it but it still carried into the Vikings net for a momentum killing goal with less than four seconds to play in the opening frame.

Things went off the rails for Salem State in the 2nd. After a 2nd Ephs goal on a wrap around by Joe Welch on a feed from Colby Cretella, the Vikings' Derek Makimaa took down Ephs freshman Roberto Cellini in the corner. Cellini was motionless for several minutes during which the rink was completely silent, before he had to be carted off on a stretcher. There was no let down for his teammates, as they responded on the ensuing five minute major with a tally. A beautiful cross ice feed from Frankie Mork led to a Cretella shot beating Zelzer. The Ephs would add two more goals in the period from Matt Werner and Hunkele (his 2nd) to end the period up 5-0. The Vikings had a few chances, including a a Mike Casale at the goal mouth which beat Pinios but hit the post, but in general it was all Ephs. Williams tripled Salem's shots, 30-10, after the second frame. 

Salem State got in the board on the third with a Casale goal, but the Ephs scored twice more en route to a 7-1 victory and a 38-19 shots advantage. Casale - who was one of the loan bright spots for Vikings - said that the five minute major was not the turning point of the game. Coach Bill O'Neill confirmed this and gave credit to the Ephs throughout, saying that Williams' speed gave the Vikings fits and disrupted their gameplan, not the lack of effort. 

The Ephs travel to SUNY Geneseo for a Quartefinal matchup with the Knights on March 19th. 





UMass-Boston 4
Trinity              0
Box Score 

The title defense ends in Hartford with a blanking of the Bantams despite Trinity holding a seven shots-on-goal advantage for the evening. The Beacons scored on a bad angle shot rebound in the first after a bad Griff Martin turnover and bookended it with a goal awarded to Derek Colluci as he was tripped heading in for an empty net tally with Alex Morin pulled.