2016-17 Colby Men's Hockey Year in Review

From the road team to the home team in the 2/7 game in one season.

Emerson Verrier's unexpected departure left a new #1 in net in Waterville

2. Colby Mules

2015-16 Reccord
11-4-3 (tied for 7th in NESCAC)
13-8-4 Overall


Stats:
Overall (Conf. Rank)                                     Conference Games (Conf. Ranks)
Offense - 3.12 G/GM (4th)                                                         Offense - 2.28 G/GM (7th)
Defense - 2.54 G/GM (6th)                                                         Defense - 2.72 G/GM (8th)
Power Play - 19/96 19.8% (2nd)                                              Power Play - 12/66 18.2% (4th)
Penalty Kill - 71/82 86.6% (3rd)                                              Penalty Kill - 48/56 85.7% (3rd) 
Penalty Minutes - 7.3 /Gm (10th)                                             Penalty Minutes - 6.9 /Gm (9th) 


Season Review
Blaise MacDonald and Chris Hall, armed with a team full of their own recruits for the first time, looked to make significant strides from five and nine win seasons the two previous years. They had to make said strides with a new goalie, however, as the netminder from the previous season, Emerson Verrier, left the school. In stepped freshman goalie Andrew Tucci alongside key returners such as Devin Albert and  Cam Macdonald.

No individual had dazzling stats, but a team effort led the Mules out to a hot 5-1 start including sweeping the home-and-home with rival Bowdoin. The change in semesters saw the transfer of Sean Lawrence from Quinnipiac to form a rotation with Tucci in net. Both netminders showed flashes but neither settled in as a dominant presence. One of those flashes included Lawrence's shutout of Hamilton in a 1-0 game, part of Colby's 5-1 record down the stretch to earn a home playoff game for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Lawrence got the nod over the frosh in net for a wild 5-4 quarterfinal loss to upstart seventh seed Wesleyan that saw a wardrobe malfunction from the rink with a broken glass panel on the boards.

High Point
It's an early point in the season, but sweeping the rivalry weekend with the Polar Bears in a pair of one goal games ain't too shabby.

Low Point 
A 7-2 loss to University of New England wasn't fun, but that was just an OOC game. The surprise loss to the Cardinals in which Lawrence only made 19 saves on 24 shots takes the cake.

MVP
Jack Burton (D, '17) The big blueliner  had 22 points for the Mules (6-16-22) and became the first Colby player to make the NESCAC first team since 2008.  Burton followed up his career at Colby with an ATO in the ECHL during spring break with the Indy Fuel and then earned a roster spot on the Fuel at the beginning of this season. With Jon Landry unsigned in the AHL, Burton is currently playing at the highest level of hockey of any NESCAC alum. 

The Trinity preview saw us going back to my high school days, now we're going back to middle school for Colby's season that saw regular season success turn into the bitter fruit of one-and-done playoff hockey.