— Hockey in the 'Cac (@hockeyinthecac) February 4, 2017
Up in Maine, Colby (9-5-4;7-3-3) downed Hamilton (12-3-4; 6-3-4) 1-0 (Box) on the strength of 28 saves from Quinnipiac transfer Sean Lawrence for his first career shutout. The win also leaped frog Colby over Hamilton for second place in the NESCAC. The lone goal of the came in the first from Phil Klitrinos on a feed from Devin Albert. Hamilton is now 0-3-2 in their last five conference games, a stretch that includes only one game in which they scored more than two goals. Their offense suffered a huge blow for the home stretch last weekend when senior Robbie Murden suffered a season ending jaw injury. Murden ends his college career with 99 points, one shy of the century mark. The Mules, with their new goalie duo of Lawrence and frosh Andrew Tucci, are 3-0-2 in their last five conference games.
Elsewhere in the Pine Tree State, Bowdoin (8-11; 5-4) rejuvenated their season with a 3-1 win (Box) over Amherst (11-4-3; 6-4-3). The Purple and White entered the game on an 8-0-2 stretch, while the Polar Bears were in the midst of a 1-7-0 run. Sophomore Cody Todesco had two tallies (his conference leading 13th and 14th of season) for the victorious PBs while senior Austin Ho had the sole light lamper for the visitng P&Ws. Peter Cronin
On Saturday, as travel partners are wont to do, the teams will swap with Hamilton headed to Bowdoin, a place they don't traditionally do well but did win last year, and Amherst headed to Colby, a place where the P&Ws have done well in recent memory but did lose at last season.
In the other travel partner group in the Nutmeg State, Williams (11-5-3; 8-2-3) erased a 1-0 deficit after two periods to defeat Trinity (10-6-3;6-5-2) 3-1 (Box) and remain at the top of the NESCAC standings, a position they held at the end of the 2015-16 regular season. The Ephs are now 7-0-1 in conference since losing in Hartford to the Bantams to start off 2017. The Bantams, the preseason favorites in the NESCAC, currently sit in fifth and fall to 3-4-3 on the road this season. They looked to be poised to break back into the top half of the 'CAC a few weeks ago with a 12-1 weekend at home against Tufts/Conn College, but have only scored four goals in their last three games.
One state up in Vermont, Middlebury (3-14-2; 3-10-0) continued their season saving campaign with their second straight 1-0 victory (Box) and third win in four games. Last night's victims were the Cardinals of Wesleyan (10-5-4;5-4-4), who came into the game on a six game unbeaten streak (3-0-3). Senior Andrew Neary had the only goal of the evening on his first tally of the year, while Stephen Klein made 25 saves for his second straight shutout. Wesleyan heads south for a rematch with Williams, who beat them in early January, while Middlebury welcomes a Trinity team that disposed of them easily in Hartford earlier this season.
In the first leg of the travel partner home-and home between Tufts (8-8-3; 6-6-1) downed Conn College (4-12-2; 2-9-2) 3-0 (Box) at Malden Valley Forum. The Jumbos wore specialty jerseys to be auctioned off for Team Hoyt (the charity for the father/son duo that does Boston Marathons you may have heard of). For the Jumbos, freshman Jordan Haney had two goals and Nik Nugnes had 31 saves for the shutout (Avery Gobbo also had 40+ saves in defeat). The two are back at it on Saturday night with the Jumbos looking for a sweep of the home-and-home for the second straight season.
Things are tight, y'all. Everyone is holding on to the hope for a home playoff game and those on the outside looking in (Conn and Midd.) still have hope for a playoff spot at least. Here's Thrice's "Hold Fast Hope" off of the album Vheissu, named after a reference to a Thomas Pynchon Novel and whose art work was done by Dave Eggers because it's the 'CAC, let's get literary!
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