2015-16 Hamilton Continentals Men's Hockey Review

Robbie Murden (#11) led all NESCAC scorers
in 2015-16

As we enter the 2015-16 academic calendar and the fall athletic season, we are reviewing the 2015-16 campaigns for each of the NESCAC men's hockey teams from #10 to #1.  Next up is fourth place Hamilton. 

4. Hamilton
2015-16 Reccord
8-6-4 (4th in NESCAC)
13-8-4  Overall

Stats:
Overall (Conf. Rank)                                     Conference Games (Conf. Ranks)
Offense - 2.88 G/GM (3rd)                                                       Offense - 2.56 G/GM (4th)
Defense - 1.92 G/GM (2nd)                                                       Defense - 2.11 G/GM (2nd)
Power Play - 20/112 17.9% (4th)                                              Power Play - 11/81 13.6% (8th)
Penalty Kill - 82/94 87.2% (2nd)                                              Penalty Kill - 58/68 85.3% (4th) 
Penalty Minutes - 9.7/Gm (3rd)                                             Penalty Minutes - 10.1 /Gm (3rd) 

Season Review
Hamilton finished the 2014-15 season in heartbreaking fashion, blowing a third period lead on a blown tire from a defenseman in the corner, then subsequently losing in OT to third seed and host Conn College in the NESCAC Quarterfinals.

The 2015-16 season saw the return of promising young goaltender Evan "Boots" Buitenhuis, who had his rookie campaign limited to five games due to injury.  Boots turned in a 1.94 GAA and .943 save% in 23 games in his sophomore season to earn First Team All-NESCAC honors. He was joined on the All-NESCAC First team by junior Robbie Murden, who led the NESCAC in scoring with 33 points (17-16-33) on the season.

The season also saw a flip of script on the Out-of-Conference schedule. The Continentals went from tough out-of-conference affairs against the likes of Umass-Boston and nearby Utica College to home-and-homes with the lowly likes of SUNY Canton and Skidmore. The easier OOC scheduled helped the Conts to an eleven game unbeaten streak in December/January and their first national ranking in the USCHO and D3Hockey.com polls in the Rob Haberbusch era.

The Continentals earned their first NESCAC playoff home game since 2010-11, but they backed into the playoffs a bit with a 1-3-2 record down the stretch. The promising season came to an end with an OT loss to Middlebury in the NESCAC Quarterfinals.


High Point
After beating Daniel Webster to close out conference play on January 23rd, Hamilton sat at 11-3-2 and in the midst of an eleven game unbeaten streak (9-0-2). The cupcakes outside of the conference helped, but that streak included eight conference games, including a win over nationally ranked and eventual NESCAC regular season champion Williams and the Conts first win over travel partner Amherst in nearly a decade. At that point in the season, the Continentals had legitimate aspirations at the top spot in the 'Cac.


Low Point 
The Continentals were knocked out of the NESCAC playoffs in an OT loss for the second straight year, this time at home and in a game they outshot their opponent 40-23. The loss capped a 1-4-2 slide down the stretch.

MVP(s)
Evan Buitenhuis (G, '18) and Robbie Murden (F, '17) It's a toss-up here as both are dangerous on separate ends of the ice. In addition to making All-NESCAC, Murden also made D3Hockey.com's Third Team All-East team.

@hockeyinthecac @ContinentalPuck congrats to Hamiltons Murden, Buitenhuis & Lamberti on All Nescac hockey honors #GoContinentals

— Guy Hebert (@guy_hebert) March 2, 2016