Friday, November 18, 2016

It's here! NESCAC 2016-17 MIH Opening Night Preview

Hello there, sports fans! It's been 244 days since Williams lost to Geneseo in the NCAA Tournament to end the 2015-16 NESCAC season, but today the wait ends. All ten NESCAC teams are in action for opening night, so let's get to the match-ups. 

For our music interludes, it's a new season, so let's go with some new music (albeit from seasoned vets), shall we?

Happy hockey, y'all.

Wesleyan at Conn College 
7 PM  Middletown, CT Video

First up are the basket of depl  teams that failed to make the NESCAC playoffs last season. The Cardinals and Camels tied on opening night a year ago and the Cardinals won in New London in January.

Conn College has nowhere to go but up after becoming the first team to not win a game in conference in the league's 17 years of conference play. They did not lose a big senior class, but they did lose what little firepower they had in leading scorers Tim DiPretoro (1st team All-NESCAC) and UConn transfer Joe Birmingham. The incoming class doesn't have any lights out scorers, but they have some experienced PG and juniors players like Jeff Thompson who might help a bit.

In net they lost Tom Conlin, who fell off senior year but was second team All-NESCAC as a junior. His replacement will decidedly be a neophyte, as the two returning goalies on the roster (Austin Essery and Tim Coney)  have a combined eight games of collegiate experience and the other two are  rookies, Boulder High School's Bailey Aust and Northfield Mount Hermon's Avery Gobbo. In general, the roster is ready to try different combinations and is prepared for the attrition of injury with 32 total spots, including 21 sophomore and freshman.

For Wesleyan, they return their leading scorer, co-captain James Kline (12-5-17) from a rather anemic offense. Their blueline returns almost entirely intact, with none of the seven freshman on the 28 man roster coming from the defensive end. Co-captain Robby Harbison will anchor the backline and senior Dawson Sprigings will likely be the starter in net, though Babson transfer George Blinick should get a shot. Up front, the Cardinals don't have a highly tauted recruiting class, but you might get some contribution from Walker Harris and the likes of Andy Espinoza and the rest of the sophomore class will need to step up for the Cardinals to make their way back into the playoffs.

These two teams hope the hurt is gone from last season and tonight will be an auspicious start to a playoff season. Here's Yellowcard with "Hurt is Gone" off their 10th and final album, which was released this year.






Williams at Bowdoin
7 PM  Brunswick, ME  Video

The best matchup of opening night pits the defending NESCAC regular season crown holders vs a talented Bowdoin team that erupted towards the end of last sesason only to implode in the third period of the NESCAC quarters. Williams lost 2016 NESCAC Player of the Year Zander Masucci to graduation while Bowdoin didn't lose much to graduation but did lose 33 year head coach Terry Meagher to retirement.

Former Polar Bear assistant and now head coach Jamie Dumont will inherit a mostly intact team including goalie Peter Cronin ('18) and NESCAC rookie of the year Cody Todesco ('19). The 35 man roster has a talented eight freshman class but the youngsters will have to fight to get playing time on this team.

Williams returns NESCAC Co-Rookie of the Year and Second Team All-NESCAC goalie Mike Pinios. The 27 man roster includes eight freshman with the likes of blueliners like Max Fuld and Peter Christie likely to step in immediately at defense. Up front, the Ephs return their top eight returning forward scorers from a balanced attack in which no one scored more than eight goals including leading scores David Italiano and Tyler Young.

The two teams split last season's series with each team winning their respective home games.

Williams Preview


We the People of NESCAC nation are happy that the season is starting, especially with great matchups like this. Here's A Tribe Called Quest with "We The People" off their first studio album in eigtheen years (RIP Phife Dawg).




Amherst at Hamilton 
7 PM  Clinton, NY   Video

The travel partners square off having split the season series last year for the first time since the beginning of the home-and-home format in the 2011-12 season (the end of the ECAC-E interlock).  Amherst had won every matchup with Hamilton going even further back to the 2006-07 season until the Continentals blanked the athletes formerly known as the Lord Jeffs in Clinton earlier this calendar year. Amherst won the season opener at home.

In general, the two teams had success in different seasons in 2015-16. The Conts found success in the regular season with their first home playoff game under Rob Haberbusch (took over in 2011) while the Purple and White had a disappointing season but made a run to their third straight NESCAC title game from the sixth seed.

Amherst suffered some of the greatest losses to graduation in the Cac, including starting goaltender Dave Cunningham (who is now an assistant coach), 1/3 of their d-corps and 2/3 of their top scorers. They will look to a strong eight man recruiting class, which makes up 1/3 of the 24 man roster, to provide immediate impact, especially PJ Conlon up front and Mark Esposito from the back.

Hamilton, on the other hand, returns most of their core, including their two biggest pieces: All-NESCAC first team teammates goalie Evan Buitenhuis and forward Robbie Murden. Six freshman have been added to a 27 man roster, which includes nine seniors, including second team All-NESCAC defenseman Conor Lamberti.

Amherst preview
Hamilton video preview

Hamilton looks to continue their upward trend and get on the level with Amherst, who had owned the Continentals in recent memory until their last matchup. Leonard Cohen passed away recently, but not before the 82 year old gave us one last album this year. Here he is with "On the Level" 



Trinity at Tufts
7 PM  Malden, MA  Video

Trinity got a bit of revenge last season over the Jumbos, who had shocked the NESCAC world by knocking out the Bantams in the 2015 NESCAC Quarterfinals as the eighth seed. The Bantams won all three games over Pat Norton in his first season as Tufts coach, including a NESCAC semifinal game that knocked the Jumbos out of the playoffs. All three games, however, were decided by one goal.

The defending NESCAC champion Bantams return much of their core, including a  high scoring senior trio in Ryan Cole, Ethan Holdaway and Sean Orlando. They graduated Nate Heilbron, but junior Alex Morin had taken over the starting job towards the end of the season. Only five freshman and enigmatic Arizona State transfer Charlie Zuccarino join 23 returners to round out the roster in Hartford. In the Trinity Athletics season preview, Coach Matt Greason said the boys were disappointed about not being in the top 5 in the preseason D3Hockey.com poll (they were seven), and that should tell you what the expectations are in Hartford this season.

Over at the municipal rink off campus in Medord, Tufts has less lofty expectations, but the trend is an upward slope. The Jumbos return their transfer goalie duo in Nik Nugnes and Mason Pulde and can hang their hat on back-to-back seasons with 8/1 upsets in the NESCAC tournament. Nine freshman made the 28 man roster including some impact scorers like my new favorite member of the all-name team, Tyler Scroggins.

A big win over Trinity on opening night would be one giant leap in the direction of earning only the second NESCAC home playoff game in Tufts hockey history. Well, as much as a municipial rink is a home game, anyway (amirite?).

Trinity preview
Tufts preview


These two teams have knocked each other out of the last two NESCAC playoffs. Here's  Metallica's "Here Comes Revenge" off the recently released two disc album Hardwired...to Self Destruct.



Middlebury at Colby
7 PM   Waterville, ME   Video 

Last but not least we we have the Middlebury Panthers traveling to Maine for a matchup with the Mules of Colby, whom the  Panthers swept in the 2015-16 season series. The Mules return almost the entirety of their roster, including top scorers Devin Ablert and Cam MacDonald, with the notable loss to graduation of d-man Alex Walsh and the departure of starting goaltender Emerson Verrier from campus. The surprise loss of Verrier leaves diminutive freshman Andrew Tucci as the team's likely starter. Tucci played well for the Wild Boars at Choate Rosemary Hall before a spending a year in juniors. He'll join five other freshman on the 28 man roster.

Middlebury, who continued their mediocre play from Bill Beaney's last season into Neil Sinclair's first season, lost eight to graduation including leading scorer Evan Neugold. Middlebury will look for immediate conributions from its ten man freshman class - the largest in the NESCAC - including Danny Tighe upfront and Brendan Dawson on the back end. Stephen Klein should be back in net and rookie Brian Ketchabaw should get some time as well.

Central Maine.com Colby Preview
Colby Preview
Middlebury Preview
I'm not a big consumer of country music, but many people, especially Canadian hockey  players, are, so let's not neglect this genre. The start of the season also engenders an optimistic, rosy outlook for all teams (everyone is in first place!) as it should. So, in honor of this, here's one of Miranda Lambert's new tracks, "Pink Sunglasses". 

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