After 218 days off from Trinity's loss to Norwich in the NCAA title game, hockey is back in the 'CAC with an opening night slate of three contests, including a big early season tilt between Amherst and Hamilton.
Hamilton at Amherst
7 PM Live Stats Video Amherst Season Preview Hamilton Season Preview
There is currently no link for a video cast of this game on the Amherst website, but NSN Sports does list it as an upcoming event so hopefully we won't be denied the dulcet tones of longtime Amherst announcer Hugh Campbell. The newly minted Mammoths are the only team in the NESCAC the regular season champion Hamilton Continentals did not defeat last season, having tied in the season opener and lost in OT at Amherst.
Amherst has dominated the matchup in recent history with Hamilton's win at home in 2016 the only win for the Buff and Blue over the Purple and White in a decade. The Conts enter the season with the best goalie in the nation in Evan "Boots" Buitenhuis and an offensive core that returns top scorer Neil Conway, First Team All-NESCAC forward Brandon Willett and others that made significant contributions including Rory Gagnon Nick Ursitti and Willet's co-captain Tyler Bruneteau. Willett is coming off a pretty brutal season ending injury late last season, so it will be interesting to see how he recovers.
Questions lay in front of Boots, literally, as the d-core took a hit to graduation, specifically Brad Smelstor, Connor Lamberti and Arizona's own Jon Carkeek. No blueliner on the roster is a senior and they will look to Bennett Morrison's snipeability and newcomers like 6'6" Stephen Cochrane, who comes to Clinton after dressing for 16 games for D1 Maine last season.
The Mammoths will look to a strong core in senior goalie Connor Girard (the internal team pick for MVP last season) and a roster that returns virtually everyone from last season's fifth place team, including senior Thomas Lidstrom, their most consistent scorer the past few seasons, sophomore Pat Daly and senior David White. Noah Gilreath and Phil Johannson will help lead the blueline with captains Tyler Granara and Pat Mooney.
Both of these teams figure to be in the hunt for a top spot in the NESCAC. USCHO has Hamilton predicted to finish at 1 and Amherst at 3 while the Wordpress blog groups them both in the top tier. Hamilton has the higher ceiling, methinks, but Amherst does have a solid core and is always so well coached. Beating Amherst in the opener would be a step for the Continentals in exorcising the demons of Lord Jeff past.
Conn College at Wesleyan
7 PM Live Stats Video Wesleyan Argus Team Preview Wesleyan Preview
It's an in-state matchup between two teams that finished technically just two spots in the standings away from one another but what was in reality a much larger gap. Conn College improved from a dismal 2014-15 to have just a bad 2015-16, while Wesleyan finished seventh in 2016-17 but won 13 games total and almost made the NESCAC finals. In terms of head-to-head Wesleyan won at Conn College in the season opener and tied in Middletown later in the season.
The Cardinals graduated James Kline, a lone offensive bright spot in two darker seasons prior to last season, and workhorse goaltender Dawson Spiggings, but return much of their core including stud junior blueliner Chad Malinowski and rookie of the year Walker Harris. They'll likely turn to junior George Blinick in net, who showed flashes last season of solid goaltending in nine appearances but was inconsistent against stronger competition. They had a small recruiting class which may see some impact from forwards like Cam Peritz.
For the Camels, they lost their leading scorers in Brian Belisle and Joe Giordano, but there wasn't much scoring going on. They'll look to returners like Jeff Thompson to step up their game as well as some newcomers, which includes Paul Capozzi and seven other frosh. Avery Gobbo and Connor Roddericks should compete for time in net.
In terms of the season outlook, things are a bit brighter for the Cardinals. The wordpress blog has them at the bottom of the top tier of teams alongside the likes of Trinity, Hamilton and Amherst, while USCHO has them moving up a spot from last season to sixth. For the Camels, USCHO has them coming in at nine again and the blog has them at the bottom as well.
Tufts at Trinity
7:30 PM Live Stats Video Trinity Preview Matt Greason Interview Tufts Preview
This is an intriguing matchup of Tufts, looking to make a push into the top half of the league, and Trinity, the class of the league who graduated a stellar senior class but returns their starting goaltender, many key pieces such as goalie Alex Morin and forward Anthony Sabitsky, and a top rated recruiting class. Tufts has 21 freshman and sophomore on the roster to complement key returners like Jordan Haney and Nik Nugnes, who took over full time from senior Mason Pulde and earned All-NESCAC honors. The two split last season's matchup with Tufts winning the season opener at the Malden Valley Forum (please stop making us write this, Tufts #OnCampusRinkNow) and Trinity demolishing the Jumbos 7-1 in Hartford later in the regular season and then knocking out the Jumbos from the playoffs in Hartford for the NESCAC Quarterfinals.
We've waited long enough, it's time to just play!
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