NESCAC Semifinal #2

Trinity senior Mike Hawkrigg (#24 above) looks to bring the Bantams to their
first NESCAC finals in the Matt Greason era

#8 Tufts (10-9-6;5-8-5) at #2 Trinity (19-5-1;14-4-0)  
4:30 PM   Video 

Amherst defeated Middlebury 4-2 in the first semi, so the winner of this one will face the Purple and White in tomorrow's finals.

For the second year in a row, Tufts shocked the #1 seed in the Quarterfinals to earn a trip to Championship weekend. This year's top seeded victim was the Williams College Ephs and the vanquishing of the purple cows returned the Jumbos to Hartford, site of last year's David over Goliath Quarterfinal against Trinity. The Jeffs again rode a strong performance from netminder Mason Pulde to give the #2 seed home ice for Championship weekend. The Bantams, who won a national title despite losing that conference quarterfinals, had a scare against seventh seed Colby but held on to advance.

As for more recent history, Trinity swept the season series over Tufts, but only by 3-2 margins in both games. Nate Heilbron was the goalie for Trinity in both games, but Coach Greason went with sophomore Alex Morin in the opening round, so it will be interesting to see who gets the nod in net in the semis. For the Jumbos, Maine transfer Nik Nugnes saw significant action between the pipes this season, but it is hard to imagine the Jumbos lone NESCAC winning playoff goaltender in franchise history not getting the start.

The two squads have only met twice in the conference post-season with Trinity winning 9-2 in the 2005 quarterfinals and the two teams met last season in the playoffs but the result is escaping me at the moment. Trinity was the one seed, so they probably won, right?

Special Teams and goaltending are always going to be your cliche go-to keys to a playoff game, but it is especially true for the two most penalized teams in the conference that also happen to be top three in power play efficiency. Pop in a few early power play goals, ride Pulde, and the Jumbos could find themselves in their first ever NESCAC title game. It won't be easy, of course, and Matt Greason's squad is hungry to add the first ever NESCAC title banner to go along with an NCAA banner for Greason, who is a rising star in the college hockey coaching world and has gotten some buzz from SB Nation as a potential coach that could eventually make a successful jump to the D1 ranks. But that's all conjecture, for now he has a semifinal game to worry about.

Players to watch (other than the goalies)
David Lackner- The frosh from Newport, RI leads the Jumbos with eight tallies and scored in both games against the Bantams this season.

Mike Hawkrigg - Hawkrigg has amassed a fine career in Hartford which includes eschewing his given name, joining the 100 point club, playoff heroics and a national title, but he has not yet made a NESCAC final.  A big game from the Toronto born senior would go along way in rectifying that.


Trinity is looking to make their first NESCAC finals in the Matt Greason era and Tufts is looking to make their first ever trip to the finals. Welcome to the pressure zone, gentlemen.