Final Regular season weekend wrap

Well folks, it was another exciting NESCAC weekend for the finale. In the end, the team that entered the weekend 1st ended up as the 4 seed in DIII hockey's bastion of parity. 

Here are the seeds for the #NESCAC Men’s Ice Hockey Championship. Read more --> https://t.co/AQkNfFurQL #d3hky pic.twitter.com/uS4YXl9Wux

— NESCAC (@NESCAC) February 19, 2017

#1 Hamilton (17-3-4; 11-3-4 NESCAC) controlled their own destiny headed into the weekend and the Continentals delievered. On Friday, they took care of cellar dwellers #7 Middlebury 5-2 (Box) thanks to 14 - yes, 14 - power play opportunities  and four power play tallies from the usually weak Continentals special teams unit. The win did not come without a price - however - as leading goal scorer Brandon Willett went down with a lower body injury and will be out for an extended period. This comes a few weeks after the Continentals lost 99 point scorer Robbie Murden, who had a down year in the scoring categories but was still a threat.

On Senior Day in Clinton,  elder Continental Statesmen Seamus O'Neill (his first of the season) and Truman Landowski scored en route to a 5-2 victory over Williams (Box). The win clinched the number one seed for Hamilton, the first time in the Rob Haberbusch era and the first time since the 2010-11 season. Evan Buitenhuis made 23 saves to the end regular season first in GAA (1.47) and Save Percentage (.948) in league contests. The Continentals entered in at eigth in both polls and, more importantly, as the fifth ranked team in the East in the second round of NCAA Regional Rankings.

#2 Colby (13-6-4; 11-4-3 NESCAC) also stepped up for a home weekend sweep to earn the second seed. The Mules downed lowly  Conn College 2-1 (Box) despite the Camels Connor Rodericks' 36 saves on Friday thanks to first period goals from Kienan Scott and Kevin Doherty. On Saturday, Nick O'Connor scored in the final two minutes for a 3-2 victory over Tufts (Box). Sean Lawrence, who has established himself as the Mules starter in net the past two weekends, made 31 saves. The Mules, who are undefeated at home in conference (8-0-1) host seven seed Wesleyan next weekend. They remain ranked in USCHO polls but do not appear in the NCAA regional rankings.

#3 Trinity (15-6-3; 11-5-2 NESCAC) swept travel partner Wesleyan 7-2 (Box) and 3-0 (Box) in a home-and-home to enter the tournament a dangerous but enigmatic team. Ryan Cole had five points on the weekend to earn NESCAC Player of the Week honors and Alex Morin had 30 saves for the shutout in Saturday's regular season finale. The Bantams will face Tufts for the third straight  postseason having lost to the eighth seed Jumbos in the 2015 NESCAC Quarters and defeated eighth seed Jumbos in the 2016 semis as the second seed.

#4 Williams (13-8-3;10-5-3 NESCAC) had the roughest weekend of any team hosting a NESCAC playoff game. The Ephs entered the weekend in first but losses on the road to arch rival Amherst 1-0 (Box) and Hamilton dropped them to fourth for a quarterfinal matchup with the aforementioned mascotless rivals. The same #5 Purple and White (14-6-3; 9-6-3 NESCAC), had a wonderful weekend at home with wins over Williams and 4-1 over Middlebury (Box). Connor Girard made 30 saves against the Ephs and Patrick Daly scored his team leading 12th tally in the victory over the Panthers. Amherst won't get a home game in the NESCAC playoffs, but they earned the sixth overall rank in the East in the NCAA Regional Rankings. D3Hockey.com does bracketology each week based on the regional rankings and not only would Amherst get an at-large or Pool C bid to the 12 team NCAA Tournament based on current rankings, they would get a home game in the first round.

#6 Tufts (11-10-3;9-8-1 NESCAC) downed Bowdoin on Friday 3-1 (Box) thanks in part to senior Matt Pugh's first tally of the season and 26 saves from Nik Nugnes. The Jumbos, who entered the weekend with a shot to earn a home playoff game ended up in sixth after the loss to Colby on Saturday. #7 Wesleyan (12-8-4;7-7-4 NESCAC) was swept by Trinity, but thanks to Amherst's victory over Williams, the Cardinals finished 2-1-1 among the "Triumvirate" to earn their third ever hockey Little Three title. So there's that.

#8 Bowdoin (8-15-1;5-12-1 NESCAC) ended the season on a 2-11-1 stretch, including the loss to Tufts on Friay and a 1-1 tie with Conn College on Saturday (Box). The Polar Bears, coached by first year head man Jamie Dumont after Terry Meagher's retirement tour last season, had never finished below sixth in the NESCAC before this season. They'll need to become the third straight eight seed to upset a one seed to take their usual spot as a member of NESCAC championship weekend.

Rounding out the CAC are #9 Conn College (4-16-3; 2-13-3 NESCAC) and last place Middlebury (3-19-2; 3-15-0 NESCAC). For Conn it is actually an improvement from a 2015-16 campaign that saw them become the first ever team to never win a game in NESCAC conference play. For the Panthers, it is the first time the eight time NCAA D-III men's hockey national champions have ever not made the NESCAC playoffs.

In a tough conference, where you can enter the final weekend as the one seed but finish the fourth, livin ain't easy.