The weekend ended with some movement in the standings but will remain tight headed into the final weekend. Williams holds a 1 point lead over Hamilton for the first spot with the two meeting on the final game of the season.
In New London, Amherst (12-6-3; 7-6-3) rebounded from a three game losing streak with a 2-1 victory (Box) over Conn College (4-15-2; 2-12-2 NESCAC). It was the third straight 2-1 loss for the Camels. Conn College senior and co-captain Joe Giordano, an assist machine but not tally maker, scored his second goal of the season for the lone Camel score on senior day (5 seniors were celebrated - Giordano, team point leader Brian Belisle, forwards Ryan Mowery, blueliner and co-captain Greg Liatuad, and seldom used netminder Austin Essery). Max Roche and Pat Daly (with his team leading 11th goal) scored for the victorious Purple and White.
Amherst sits at sixth headed into the final weekend at home against arch-nemesis and first place Williams and last place Middlebury. The Purple and White are a long shot for a home playoff game but a lock for the playoffs. For the Camels, they head to the great white north for tilts with Colby and Bowdoin, the team they trail by four points for the eigth and final playoff spot. The Camels chance at the playoffs is next to-none, relying on an unlikely threeway tie between them, Bowdoin and Middlebury. So it looks like the Camels are missing the playoffs for the second straight season. At least they won a conference game this season, compared to last season when they went 0-15-3.
Up the road in Malden, Hamilton (15-3-4; 9-3-4) won their third straight with a 3-1 win (Box) over Tufts (10-9-3; 8-7-1). The frosh crashed the party on senior day for Tufts. Hamilton freshman Bennett Morrison scored the game winner in the final three minutes on the short-hand (sort of, it was three seconds into an eight second power play for Tufts) to break a 1-1 tie. Fellow private first class in the Continental hockey army Nick Ursitti scored the games first tally in the opening frame while Tufts only goal came from rookie Tyler Scroggins in the second. The only upperclassmen contribution on the afternoon in the goals column came from junior Tyler Bruneteau with an empty netter.
In net, it was the fourth straight game that reigning 1st Team All-NESCAC goalie Evan Buitenhuis gave up one goal. He heads into the final weekend 1st in the DIII nation in save percentage (.949) and third in Goals Against Average (1.50) among qualified netminders. In conference games he is first with the same save percentage and a 1.47 GAA. The second best save percentage comes from the goalie he beat on Saturday, Nik Nugnes, who let up two goals on Saturday or as many as he had let up in the previous four games.
Tufts, who celebrated six seniors including goalie Mason Pulde - his career ended early with an ACL tear- and recent Joe Concannon semifinalist Sean Kavanagh - head to Maine for the final weekend. The Jumbos are a longshot for their seocnd ever home NESCAC playoff game but they can't fall any lower than the seventh seed which they currently occupy and only one point away from the fifth seed.
Hamilton heads home in second place and can control their own destiny for the first overall seed with wins over Middlebury and current first place holder Williams, a team they tied earlier this year and haven't lost to since 2014. The Continentals are in the top 10 in both of the polls, but came in only seventh in the east in the first installment of the NCAA's regional rankings, which are used to select and seed the 12 team NCAA tournament. Based on this and assuming Williams would win the NESCAC playoffs, they just barely miss the tournament in D3Hockey.com's first installment of Bracketology. A non-conference schedule that featured exactly one legit opponent in New England College is the likely culprit in keeping the Conts out. Luckily for Hamilton , the Bracketology is just an excercise on paper (or binary code, really, but details!) and there is plenty of puck left to be played on the actual ice.
Speaking of the ice, Colby (11-6-4;9-4-3) rebounded from a loss at Trinity to escape Connecticut with a 3-2 victory (box) over Wesleyan (12-6-4; 7-5-4) despite being outshot 38-25. Mike Rudolf scored twice for the Mules to pull in to a threeway tie with Phil Klitirinos and Nick O'Connor. Sean Lawrence, who has had consecutive starts just twice since transferring (both Trinity/Wesleyan weekends), made 36 saves for the victory. Frosh George Blinick, who has performed his way into rotating time with Dawson Sprigings in net, made 22 saves to drop to 5-2-1 on the season.
Colby returns home for the final weekend against Conn College and Tufts in third place, two points out of first and three points ahead of Wesleyan in fifth place. The Mules are looking for their first home playoff game since 2008 when they finished first and the first under fifth-year coach Blaise MacDonald. They are likely to get one with a win in either game clinching at least the fourth spot. the Mules enjoy the Mayflower hill home ice advantage, going 7-1-1 at Alfond, including a 6-0-1 mark in conference. Home ice advantage, especially home ice advantage throughout the NESCAC playoffs, would be key for a team that will need to win the NESCAC to make the NCAA tournament. The Mules are in the top 15 in both polls, but did not appear in the first edition of the NCAA regional rankings. If they are able to pull off a top seed, they would likely play arch-nemesis Bowdoin, who is a near lock for eighth.
For Wesleyan, they will make their first NESCAC conference tournament since being blownout as the eighth seed by top seed Trinity in 2014. The Cards control their own destiny for earning their first home playoff game since 2007 when they finished fourth if they can sweep the home-and-home with the aforementioned Bantams.
Speaking of those angry chickens, Trinity (13-6-3; 9-5-2) cruised past Bowdoin (8-14-0; 5-11-0) 6-1 (Box) thanks to a hat trick from junior and NESCAC Player of the week Tyler Whitney. The Polar Bears head into the final wekend with nothing to gain, incapable of rising higher than eighth but still possibly failing out of the playoffs, though only in a very unlikely scenario. The Polar Bears, who are in their first season under head coach Jamie Dumont, have never finished lower than sixth since NESCAC started a postseason tournament in the 1999-2000 season. Current four seed Trinity heads into their home-and-home with Wesleyan as the most enigmatic team in the 'CAC. They have the best goal differential in conference (+22, seven better than second best Hamilton at +15) but have never fully gotten the momentum they were expected to have as the preseason favorite in the NESCAC.
In the lone night game on Saturday, Williams (13-6-3;10-3-3) outshot Middlebury (3-17-2; 3-13-0) 46-15 and scored four times in the first period on rout to a comfortable 4-1 (Box) sweep of the home-and-home. The victory puts the Ephs in first headed into the final weekend and keeps Middlebury, who has never missed the conferencce playoffs before this season, in last. Middlebury needs to win both games the final weekend at Hamilton and Amherst and would still need help to sneak into playoffs. For Williams, they are in the drivers seat headed into the final two games, with the final game at Hamilton a potential de facto first place game.
The Ephs are not ranked in either poll despite being the conference leader, but are the highest ranked team in the CAC in the more important NCAA Regional Rankings, coming in at sixth in the east. Williams finished first in the NESCAC regular season standings for the first time last season before being upset by eighth seed Tufts in the playoffs. They still made the NCAA Tournament, a feat they will only likely make this season by winning the conference tournament.
NESCAC teams seeking the CAC crown hope not to be burned up in their pursuit. Here's Metallica and Lady Gaga "Moth into Flame" from last Sunday's Grammy Awards. We are hoping for some good games with no technical difficulties (looking at you Andy Tucci's goalie equipment), so we present the version with James Hetfield's mic feed not off.
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