Saturday, March 24, 2018

NCAA semis: St. Norbert's 4 Colby 3

St. Norbert   4
Colby           3
Box Score    Central Maine Recap   D3Hockey.com  NCAA.com Video Recap

 "I'm never displeased with the effort (in this game), this team typically brings it" Colby coach Blaise MacDonald said immediately after the game. St. Norbert coach Tim Coghlin coach would concur  as he said his team needed to earn all sixty minutes against the Mules.

But for the fickle mistress that is hockey, sometimes that isn't enough. Colby found itself down 2-0 within the first three minutes and then 3-0 (Colby gave up 3 goals in entire NESCAC tournament) by the close of the first period, and despite a valiant effort in the final two frames, the Mules were never able to find the equalizer.

St. Norbert got on the board just 1:28 in, as Green Knights defenseman Nick Lesage fed third-line winer Roman Uchyn, who beat Sean Lawrence high glove side from between the dots for the first tally. The real puzzler came less than a minute later when Brooklyn native Dominic Sacco just floated one in on net that somehow found its way through Lawrence's five hole for a goal that MacDonald called "a crazy one." Sacco, as those NESCAC fans with a better memory than is likely humanly possible may remember, assisted on one of St. Norbert's two goals in a loss to Trinity in last years semis and almost had an equalizer that just went wide in the closing minutes of that game against the Bantams.

Green Knight captain and ACHA First Team All-American Tanner Froese gave the tournament top seed a three goal advantage about nine minutes later.  The Saskatchewan native took the puck in and had a good backhanded chance that was turned aside by Lawrence. Moments later, Froese made an effort play to poke check Mule captain Mike Rudolf trying to clear in front of the net and it went in. Froese would say afterwards that the coaches emphasized tracking pucks on getting on defenders as part of the game plan.

The Miracle Mules did not give up and cut the shots advantage to 23-19 by the end of the first. It was the first time in this six week run on the road that the Mules gave up three goals in a game, let alone a period, and it is the first time they gave up three in a period since their last loss on February 3rd to Amherst.

Despite the score, both MacDonald ("it looked different on the scoreboard than it did on the bench") and his son Cam MacDonald ("We knew we could do it, we've scored three goals in five minutes before") were confident in their squad.  Both teams seemed to settle in the first half of the second with some back and forth play but generally no great scoring chances. Mike Decker got called for roughing in an altercation behind his own net but the Mules killed off the penalty.

Things picked up in the final five minutes of the second frame. Colby got on the board when Kienan Scott entered the zone wide on a breakout, using all the extra square footage of the Olympic rink, and got a shot off from the right circle. TJ Black saved it but left a juicey rebound for JP Schuhlen, who beat TJ Black gloveside high. The Knights looked to respond shortly after with a two-on-one, but Lawrence, who returned to form after the first half of the first period, made a sprawling, sliding save in which he lost his stick to keep the deficit at two.

Colby found itself with a golden opportunity less than two minutes later on an interference call on St. Norbert's winger Tommy Nicksic. On the ensuing power play, Thomas Stahluth from behind the net worked it over to MacDonald, who dangled a bit on All-American defenseman Sean Campbell and wristed it in shortside high from the odd angle.

Less than a minute later, with the Mules faithful and players alike amped,  Colby got another break with another interference call on the Green Knights. Nicksic elbowed Schuhlen high, and the officials turned to video review (new this year at DIII level) and determined that it was a two minute minor and not a more egregious infraction.

This time, however, it was St. Norbert that had the scoring opportunity, as Froese stole a flat cross ice pass at the blue line and raced down the wing before cutting in and going five hole on Lawrence for the 4-2 lead with 35 seconds left in the 2nd. Blaise would identify this as the turning point in the game and Froese and the Knights recognized how important the tally was to breaking the Mules momentum.

Early in the third, Justin Grillo, the hero of the Quarterfinals, was checked into the boards and was slow to get up, requiring the assistance of the training staff to get back to the bench. The refs went to the video replay to determine if there should be a penalty on St. Norbert's and ultimately decided the hit was clean. When asked about the replay after the game, Coghlin admitted to not knowing a non-call could be reviewed as the whole review process is new this season.

Thankfully for the Mules, Grillo was able to return to the game.  The freshman entered the zone with about six to play and riffled it through two defenders and a frozen Black. It was a bang-bang play that looked like a snipe perched from upon high, but after the game Coghlin said the puck was deflected off of defenseman Alfred Johansson's pad.

The Mules never stopped the pressure and pulled Lawrence for the extra attacker with 1:10 left, but Black stood his ground and the buzzer sounded with the Mules on the wrongside of the scoreboard for the first time in over a month. Black, a back-to-back All American, made 40 saves and has now set a school record of 26 wins in a season .

That's a program record for a school that is headed to their ninth D-III finals, tying Middlebury for most finals appearances, and all since 2004. Speaking of Middlebury, Coghlin shouted out now retired Panther legend Bill Beaney in the post game presser, crediting Beaney with imparting the wisdom upon him that if you have done your job as a coach correctly through the year, things are pretty much autopilot in that department come championship time.

The Green Knights last played in the title game here in Lake Placid two years ago, when they lost to Wisconsin-Stevens Point, who lost to Salve Regina in the other semifinal thanks to over 50 saves from the Seahawks goalie. Froese spoke of the "unfinished business" this team has at Herb Brooks Arena. The Green Knights have ten freshman but they also have six seniors that are looking to avoid being the first senior class to not win an NCAA title since the 2003 class. The Knights last won in 2014 in Lewiston, ME in a championship hosted by Bowdoin.

Norbert's will face off against a Salve Regina school, coached by rookie bench boss Zech Klenn , that is making their first ever NCAA title game not only in hockey, but in any sport. The Seahawks Blake Wotjala had to make 55 saves to defeat the Pointers 3-0 in the semis.

He will likely have to stand on his head again in the title game (and the Seahawks might want some luck from their winger Danny Eruzione's uncle Mike Eruzione) against this balanced Green Knights squad that had 47 shots but no one individual player with more than five of his own. Mules MVP Lawrence ended up with 43 saves and only one goal allowed in the final two periods in a testament to his fortitude rebounding from the early, "unfortunate" goals as Blaise called them. The Mules, at least according to the box, only blocked ten shots, much less than the 20+ they had become accustomed to on this playoff run.

Said dream run comes to an end, but there is no shame, especially considering how hard the Mules fought back. Even in the loss, Colby became the first team to score three on Norbert's since the Green Knights last loss, way back on January 26th to Adrian.

Thanks to the Mule Train for a joyful ride and thanks to everyone for another terrific NESCAC season. Only 236 days until the start of 2018-19 team activities...







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Friday, March 23, 2018

Colby vs. St. Nobert Preview 6:30 PM

It's finally here on Friday, Colby in its first ever Frozen Four! All stat rankings are national.

 Colby vs St. Norbert 6:30 PM  Video


 (17-10-2)
Offense - 3.38 G/GM (22nd)
Defense - 2.34 G/GM (17th)
PIM - 7.76/GM (78th)
Power Play - 18/.75 % (36th) 
Penalty Kill - 81.46% (46th)






(25-4-1)                              
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Offense - 3.97 G/GM (11th)
Defense - 1.40 G/GM (1st)
PIM - 11.13 (60th)
Power Play -  21.88% (20th)
Penalty Kill - 91.8% (1st)






The Lowdown: You were born to be hockey players
A David vs Goliath type match on Lake Placid ice, eh? Whuddathunk.

St. Norbert College in Dee Pee, Wisconsin is separated by a minimum of 1,147  miles from the campus of Colby College in Waterville, ME, and that expedited route is only if you cross international borders for the Trans-Canada highway. 


Far more than a border between miles and kilometers, however, separates these two teams/programs.  The Green Knights are  a team that is #1 this season in the polls/a program that has had almost unparalleled  success in DIII college hockey (well, except if you are Middlebury), including a remarkable twelve Frozen Four appearances and four national championships since 2003, while Colby is a team that was a sixth seed in its conference tournament/a program that has never been to a Frozen Four. 

The disparity between the two squads regular season success was none more apparent than Thursday night when the Green Knights landed three players on the American College Hockey Association All-American West First Team, while the Mules failed to have any names appear on the three All-East teams. 

Junior TJ Black, who also made the All-West team last year but lost to Trinity 3-2 in the semis, has a .940 save percentage and 1.39 GAA this season. Senior Tanner Froese, the Knights leading scorer, has 12-17-29 points for a balanced Green Knights team with six players at 20+ points, including NEHC all-freshman team members Peter Bates and Keegan Milligan. On the blueline, Norbert's is led by ACHA All-American senior Sean Campbell. 

If the AHCA gave out All-Americans for the playoffs, Colby goalie Sean Lawrence would be the goalie of choice, and one need not peruse on this website or any other DIII site for very long to see why. While the Colby players got shutout, Blaise MacDonald took home the Ed Jeremiah award for the DIII coach of the year, the first time a NESCAC coach won the award since Amherst's Jack Arena in 2015. 

The leadership of MacDonald has been well documented by Travis Barrett this week in some stellar coverage of the team, and you should check out his series of pieces up above if you haven't already with everything from Colby heading to Southern Maine to practice on the Olympic sheet to comparing Colby's run to part time assistant's Mike Latendresse's run to the D1 title as a player with Maine to everything in between. 

While the teams are quite different historically and in individual accolades for the season, there are similarities in play between these two squads. In general, they both feature a solid defense (Colby since the midseason reset, all season for St. Norbert's), a team that uses the whole ice,  balanced scoring (Colby also has six 20+ point players) and exceptional goaltending. As the D3Hockey boys noted in their Road To Plaid podcast, this might be a case of Colby running into a better version of itself. 

In terms of the arena, the ghosts of 38 years ago may favor the Mules, but coach Tom Coghlin - who has the Knights to 22 straight seasons of 18 wins - and his St. Norbert squad have had their own triumphs at Herb Brooks Arena. St. Norbert's is 6-2 in Lake Placid with titles in 2008 and 2012 and finals apperances in 2010 and 2016, when they lost to UW-Stevens Point, who will play Salve Regina in the other semis Friday afternoon, and whom lost to Trinity in the 2015 finals. 

The Green Knights have had trouble with NESCAC schools going 3-6 all time against the 'CAC due mostly to a 2-4 record vs Middlebury and the aforementioned loss to Trinity last season. Norbert's and Colby have never met, and even if they had, the matchups would be historical fodder, nice for discussion but little to do with what will actually happen on the large sheet of ice that is most famous, of course, for hosting the...first ever Winter Goodwill Games (no, not the fictitious junior goodwill games).

If you can't make it in person, enjoy the webcast call from Ralph Bednarczyk and D3Hockey.com editor Ray Biggs. May the best team in a blue jersey win.


The Luck of the... Scottish? The MacDonalds (Blaise and Cam) beat McDonald (Geneseo's Devin) on St. Patrick's Day to get here, but we are still going Irish here. We don't have the same clout as Sister Jean from Loyola Chicago, but we pray and implore, don't shut down this Mules Cinderella run tonight. 

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Monday, March 19, 2018

Lake Placid Bound, a play in 3 Acts with 280 Characters

As you are aware, Colby defeated Genseo 2-1 in the final seconds of the third period . Thankfully the Mules avoided OT to keep it to a classic three period  acts. In honor of this narrative structure preserving win, we present Lake Placid Bound, a Play in Three Acts and 280 Characters.

Pre-Game









1st Period 









2nd Period 









3rd Period 








Post Game 







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Sunday, March 18, 2018

Colby downs Geneseo 2-1 with last second tally

Colby (17-10-2)    2 
Geneseo (20-6-3)   1

Box Score   Colby Recap    Geneseo Recap D3Hockey.com  CentralMaine 

Justin Grillo scored in the final two seconds of regulation and Sean Lawrence had his ninth straight game with 30+ saves as the Colby College Mules punched their first ticket to the DIII Frozen Four in program history. They'll meet St. Norbert, who Trinity defeated in last year's Frozen Four, in Lake Placid, NY next Friday.

The winning goal came at the end of a third period that Geneseo absolutely dominated, 18-4 in shots. The Ice Knights, who had outscored opponents at the IRA 63-13 this season headed into the contest, found themselves down 1-0 entering the final frame. Midway through the period, Joe Schuler was called for a knee and Mike Rudolf was called for a subsequent trip, and the Knights found themselves on a five-on-three power play. They took advantage at the 8:18 mark when Andrew Romano fed Arthur Gordon (who Colby coach Blaise Macdonald says has an NHL shot) at the right dot for an absolute riffle of an upper-90 one-timer for the equalizer. NESCAC fans may remember Gordon from the 2016 Quarterfinals, also at Geneseo, when he scored two goals to end Williams' bid for a trip to the Frozen Four.

The Knights nearly took the lead with five minutes left when Dan Bosio took a shot from the left circle. Sean Lawrence went down to stop the shot but it was actually coraled by Romano who found himself moving across Lawrence's poke check with a chance to put away the go-ahead goal. He wasn't able to lift it (something that he said after the game is going to kill him all summer) and Lawrence was able to make the sprawled out save seen below. (You can watch the highlight at the Geneseo BoxCast site here).

What's only visible in the video is Mike Rudolf diving to stop a follow up effort by Romano on an open net. This playoff run has been about Lawrence's great play, certainly, but as he would be the first to tell you, it has been a team effort. 

After the game, coach MacDonald admitted he was thinking about what to say to the boys in the locker room before the start of what seemed to be an inevitable overtime period. And with eight seconds left and the puck in the Colby end, no one would have bet on the Mules winning this in regulation (well, maybe UMBC fans). But Dan Dupont got a quick outlet pass to Cam Macdonald, who back handed it immediately to Thomas Stahlhuth. The junior entered the zone and had his shot blocked, but Grillo followed it up and fired it past Devin McDonald's blocker. McDonald, understandably, just looked down in disbelief without moving for several seconds after he realized it went in. Grillo said after the game that he didn't even see it go in but he saw the goalie's head turned toward the net. He also admitted he had no idea that there were only 1.6 seconds left on the clock as in the heat of the moment the exact time is one of the last things on a player's mind.

A transition play with Stahlhuth and Grillo finishing it off led to the first goal of the game as well. In the opening minute of the second period, Dupont from behind the net began the breakout and shuffled it over to MacDonald, who immediately gave it to Rudolf leaving the zone. Rudolf took a hit into the boards just outside the Colby zone and found a streaking Grillo at mid-ice, who maneuvered his way to the left dot on a two-on-one with Stahlhuth out in front. Stahluth later said that he thought Grilo, with his "unbelievable release" would take the shot, but Grillo fired it over to Stahlhuth for the Mules opening salvo.

The scoreless first was key to the Mules success, MacDonald would say after the game. The Knights have a tendency to jump out in front and had beaten every single opponent they played at the IRA save one this season, and that was a tie against perennial powerhouse Oswego. Geneseo coach Chris Schulz said the first half of the game was probably the worst period-and-a-half of hockey his team has played this season.

Survive and advance has been the credo of the Mules this postseason, and they pulled out their fifth straight win in an elimination game dating back to the Quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament. While the games have been on the road, the Mules faithful have done a bang-up job of bringing a small but mighty contingent to the games. "Col-by" chants were audible at the NESCAC championship and opening round game at UNE, and they were again audible in the final second of the game at Geneseo, some 584 miles from Waterville, ME. Colby College's twitter was all over the game, including the nice info that Louanne Tobias, Colby women's hockey '77, came to the game from her home 20 minutes away.




It's been a magical run for this squad, who becomes the third NESCAC team to make the DIII Frozen Four in the last four years (Trinity 2015 and 2017, Amherst 2015) and the first NESCAC team since Amherst in 2012 to go to Lake Placid, NY for the final games of the NCAA Tournament.


We are going back to the Dropkick Murphy's well for Colby's St. Patrick's Day last second upset at the IRA. The Mules have survived the gauntlet of the NESCAC Tournament and NCAA Tournament thus far. 


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Saturday, March 17, 2018

NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals Preview

Tonight is the night! Colby traveled almost 600 miles for a chance to make it to the DIII Frozen Four with a win in beautiful Geneseo, NY. Stats are nationally rankings in DIII

Colby at Geneseo 7 PM  Video
 Colby (16-10-2)

Offense - 3.43 G/GM (20th)
Defense - 2.39 G/GM (19th)
PIM - 7.75/GM (78th)
Power Play - 19.27 % (36th) 
Penalty Kill - 81.93% (39th)

         SUNY Geneseo (20-5-3)
             Offense - 4.43 G/GM (6th)
             Defense - 2.07 G/GM (12th)
             PIM - 9.82/GM (67th)
             Power Play - 23.36% (13th) 
             Penalty Kill - 84.47% (25th)


 Colby Preview 
Geneseo Preview 
USCHO Picks
USCHO Colby Feature
D3Hockey.com Preview
CentralMaine.com Preview
CentralMaine.Com Colby Fourth Line Feature
CentralMaine.com Rudolf Feature

 
A Clash of Contrasting Similarities
If Colby knew the young University of New England program they faced in the first round, both by proximity and recent history , the SUNY Geneseo Knights are a bit more mysterious to the Mules in both categories.  For starters, to say both teams are from the east region is a true statement, but requires some clarification. The elite, private liberal arts college on Mayflower Hill in Maine is some 582 miles from the State University of New York at Geneseo, or roughly similar to the trek from New York City to Adrian, Michigan, another site of one of tonight's four NCAA DIII men's hockey quarterfinals. 

 Thankfully the Mules didn't have to drive, as they stayed in Boston for a night before flying in to Rochester to practice at D1 RIT and then driving down to Geneseo. But be it bus, plane, kayak, Paul Blart's segway, etc. the Mules have been comfortable on the road as of late. Dating back to the final weekend of the regular season, Colby has been on the road the past five weekends to the tune of a 5-0-1 record, a stint in which Sean Lawrence and the gang has not given up more than two goals. 

 The Road Warrior Mules™ last faced the Geneseo Ice Knights in November of 2016, only the second time the two programs have ever met, at home in Waterville as part of the Bowdoin/Colby Faceoff Classic. Colby carried a 3-2 lead into the final minute of that affair before the Knights scored in the final thirty seconds of regulation and in the subsequent overtime period for a 4-3 victory. One key difference between that Mules team and this is that Sean Lawrence was still a month away from enrolling as a student at Colby at that point  We don't have to go over how important Lawrence has been to this playoff run as we and others have espoused on it at length the past month. 

 One key similarity to that game, however, is that Devin McDonald was in net for the Knights. The now junior and Third Team All-SUNYAC goalie (.927 Save%, 1.79 GAA) made 39 saves as a sophomore to defeat the Mules and as a freshman he made 31 saves to defeat Williams 2-1 in the 2016 NCAA Quarterfinals at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena (aka The IRA), site of tonight's game against Colby. Geneseo has one of the best fanbases in DIII hockey (including a pep band) and they are likely to pack the IRA, though it might be somewhat tempered a bit by spring break absences as the atmosphere was against Williams.

Whether it is the diminuitive McDonald, the crowd, or Geneseo's top ten offense, the IRA has been one of the hardest places to play in DIII this season.  The Knights are 12-0-1 at home in 2017-18 and have outscored opponents 63-13. In one of the Central Maine previews, Colby coach Blaise MacDonald compared the Knights to the Trinity Bantams (without much detail other than they have similar "elements") and the comparison is apt in the shots department. Shots may be an archaic, over simplified stat, but it is one of the few we have at the DIII level, so we marveled all year at how thoroughly dominant the Bantams were at outshooting opponents in all but one game. The Knights are not far behind, outshooting opponents in all but three games this season for a 1,068-700 shots advantage.

 One of those few times they were outshot was last weekend in the NCAA Quarterfinals at "The Cooler" against Hobart. McDonald came up big with 36 saves and the Geneseo fourth line unexpectedly became the hero with four goals in the first six minutes of action en route to a 4-2 victory, the program's first NCAA Tournament road victory in school history. Though it was the first road victory, it was certainly not the first NCAA Tournament victory, as the Knights have been to two of the last four DIII Frozen Fours in 2014 and 2016 (they alternate with their doppleganger Trinity, apparently).  

Junior Arthur Gordon, who scored the two goals against Williams in the 2016 quarterfinals, was part of that 2016 team, but many of the other forwards will not remember a home NCAA playoff game, as the Knights four leading scorers, all at 30+ points, are sophomores, including First Team All-SUNYAC member Conlan Keenan and Second Team Tyson Empey. On the back end, the Knights are a bit more seasoned, led by first team All-SUNYAC senior Pat Condon, who scored two goals against Colby last season, and Third Team member Duggie Lagrone.

The Mules do not have 30+ point scorers (even though Colby led the NESCAC in scoring no forwards made the All-NESCAC team) and their NCAA tournament experience is limited to this year and being swept by eventual national champion Middlebury in 1996 (eight team tournament, best-of-three series in Quarters). But like Geneseo showed last round, the Mules run four lines deep as well. One of the Central Maine articles focused on the fourth line of junior Zack Hale (who scored in the NESAC title game), freshman Joe Schuler (who scored last weekend against UNE) and senior Griffin Fadden, who has only two collegiate goals but came up with an epic, no-regard-for-human-life block last weekend that cost him a tooth and a facemask, not to mention a significant amount of blood.

 Speaking of blocked shots, it has been a theme of late with monster efforts in general in this winning streak for the Mules and specifically in the last two games. One of the tidbits from the various articles that have popped up in this run is a team meeting about six weeks ago when the team recommitted to their defensive scheme, an anecdote that has been born out in the box score and wins column since then. They don't keep publicly available individual blocked shots stats, but I would guess senior Dan Dupont is up there, though as All-NESCAC defenseman Mike Decker pointed out to us on twitter last week, it is a culture thing more than any one individual guy. 

 The team has overall buy-in from the coaches to one another, from leading scorer Kienan Scott, who scored two goals last week, and his line, to the coaches son and leading goal scorer Cam MacDonald, and his line, to finally healthy blueliner Andrew Reis and everyone in between. The Mules led throughout the NESCAC playoffs, but the team really showed their mettle when they fell behind on the road to UNE after one and fought back to not only win the game, but control it.

So win, lose or, well there are no draws in playoff hockey, the Mules will no doubt live up to the trite but rue maxim of leaving everything on the ice in the IRA on St. Patrick's Day (make of that phrasing what you will). 

A team meeting six weeks ago and the Colby boys were back in, locked, loaded and focused. Happy St. Patty's Day y'all.
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Saturday, March 10, 2018

NCAA Tournament Live

1st Period
Good Colby contingent made the trip down from Waterville. After Ben Churchfield gave up five goals and was yanked from the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship game, Tate Sproxton got the start in net.  Colby went with Sean Lawrence, of course, and the Rudolf, Macdonald, Grillo line, with Dupont and Stahlhuth at the blue line.

Two minutes in Joe Schuler was called for a trip and the best power play in D-III - that went 4/7 against Colby in two regular season games - went to work. In general the kill was good, but at the very end, on a bang-bang play, Tyler Selterneich from behind the net sent it to Brady Fleurent who threw it over to Ryan Bloom for the 1-0 lead four minutes in. Colby would get their own power play later int he period butsdu were not able to do much with it. Nor'EAsters led 13-4 in shots by the end of the opening frame.


2nd Period
If the 1st period was a New Hope for the Nor'Easters, the second period was the Mules Strike Back.  Colby scored three goals, including a power play light lamper and a short handed tally, to take a 3-2 lead into the 2nd intermission.

About 4:30 into the 2nd, a Mule defender broke up a pass in the defensive zone and Nick O'Connor was off to he races on a 2-on-1 into the Nor'Easter zone. O'Connor faked the shot and found Kienan Scott in front of Sproxton for the equalizer, Scott's tenth of the season. The Nor'Easters would respond less than six minutes later, when one of the Macrones twins for UNE fired in a wrister from just inside the blue line, which Liam Neuman followed up to beat Lawrence for the 2-1 lead.

The Mules would respond a little over three minutes later on their second power play of the game, when Cam MacDonald couldn't put in a wrap around but Mike Rudolf was there for the follow-up knock in. Another three minutes later, Colby almost scored short handed when Grillo pick-pocketed a Nor'Easter and fed it to Scott, who could not beat Sproxton one-on-one with the backhand. Shortly after the ensuing faceoff, Nick O'Connor outhustled UNE behind the net and found Scott to the right of Sproxton and this time Scott buried it for his second of the game.  By the end of the period, Colby had fought back to cut the shots lead to 25-21 in favor of UNE.

3rd Period
Schuler gave the Mules some insurance with a single handed effort nine minutes in. Schuler took the puck from a UNE player in the neutral zone, skated down to the goal line, toodled back to the far edge of the circle and beat an unexpecting goaltender. The Mules killed off another penalty and almost scored another short handed goal when a giant block on a slap shot led to a Nick O'Connor breakaway that Sproxton turned aside.

The rest of the period was what a large part of the game was, blocked shots by Mules like Dan Dupont and timely saves by Sean Lawrence. The Colby faithful travelled well again as they did for the NESCAC title game. The "Let's Go Colby" chant was audible in person in Hartford and it was audible down the stretch again on webcast tonight.

When the buzzer sounded Lawrence ended an eighth straight game with 30+ saves and the Mules were on their way to the NCAA Quarterfinals, for which they will travel to SUNY Geneseo, who defeated Hobart on the road, also 4-2 tonight. The Knights ended Williams season in 2016 in the NCAA Quarterfinals as well. That was one of five losses so far in the NCAA tournament for the NESCAC since 2015. In that time span, the CAC is 11-5 with five different teams winning at least one game (Trinity, Amherst, Williams, Hamilton, Colby).


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NCAA 1st Round: Colby at UNE 7 PM

Tonight is the night! Colby stays in state to take on University of New England in the NCAA DIII Men Ice Hockey Tournament Opening Round. Stats are nationally rankings in DIII


 Colby (15-10-2)

Offense - 3.41 G/GM (20th)
Defense - 2.41 G/GM (20th)
PIM - 7.81/GM (78th)
Power Play - 19.05 % (39th) 
Penalty Kill - 82..5% (36th)





University of New England (20-5-3)
Offense - 4.79 G/GM (3rd)
Defense - 3.28 G/GM (36th)
PIM - 19.38/GM (1st)
Power Play - 35.81 % (1st) 

It me, NCAA Tournament! The Colby Mules will face the University of New England Nor Easters (apropos after the past week in the northeast) tonight after traveling from Alfond Rink in Waterville to Alfond Forum in Biddeford, in the most Maine game you will see in the NCAA Tournament. 

The two Pine Tree state schools took very different paths to get here. The Nor'Easters earned their first trip to the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid after losing to Nichols 8-3 in their conference tournament, while the Mules road 113 NESCAC tournament saves from Sean Lawrence and the best scoring offense in the NESCAC to win their first ever conference title and an automatic bid to the tournament. It is the first trip to the NCAA tournament since the yesteryear of 1996 (which was won by Middlebury), before NESCAC conference play tournaments started and they were the White Mules. 


The remnants of Colby celebration after winning the NESCAC title
Photo by LPfan2004


The  Nor'easters hail from from the Commonweath Coast Conference. The CCC, compromised of teams from the old ECAC-Northeast, East and newcomer Endicott (who Trinity beat in the NCAA tournament last year), surprisingly got three teams in the tournament thanks to Nichols' (who Trinity beat in the 2015 NCAA tournament) aforementioned upset of UNE. 

Colby and UNE meet bi-yearly, as do the Nor'Easters and Bowdoin, in a non-conference home and home. The Nor'Easters won all four games against the NESCAC foes, with the Mules losing 5-3 in Biddeford and 5-1 in Waterville, with Andrew Tucci playing both games. Tucci won't be playing on Saturday, as senior Sean Lawrence, he of 113 saves in the NESCAC tournament fame, will get the nod.  UNE is no stranger to Colby historically, either, as their former coach Brad Holt is the son of former Colby coach Charlie Holt.

The schools also share senior classes that rose from sub-par teams to the NCAA tournament by the time they will leave their respective campuses, which are both, again, in Maine (did we mention this is an in-state game yet?). UNE only has two seniors (who have combined for only 15 points this year) from a team that only won 9 games in 2014-15, when Holt left and current coach, 31 year old Kevin Swallow, took over. Swallow played collegiately in the big ivies with Dartmouth before transferring to and graduating from University of Maine.

The Colby senior class had less wins in their freshman season (only five) but have had much more of an impact than the seniors from Biddeford and the Mules have had the same coach/assistant coach combo in Blaise MacDonald and Chris Hall for all four years. Colby's leading scorer is a senior in Phil Klitirinos as is their leading goal scorer in Cam MacDonald, son of coach Blaise MacDonald. Senior Mike Decker represented the Mules on the All-NESCAC second team while Lawrence, a transfer from Quinnipiac who was in Hamden in 2015, is also a senior.

Last year UNE was lead by the BFFs line of Bloom and the Fleurent brothers. The older Fleurent, Trevor, graduated and now plays in Norway, but his brother, junior Brady Fleurent and sophomore Ryan Bloom have teamed up with freshman Tyler Seltenreich to combine for a total 130 points (53-77-130) on the third most potent offense and most potent power play in DIII hockey. Bloom and Fleurent made 1st team all-CCC, while Seltenreich was the Rookie of the Year in the conference.

The Mules frosh have not been as impactful as Seltenreich, though Justin Grillo (6-14-20) and Spencer Hewson (5-14-19) have made their mark playing on lines with upperclassmen. Hewson was especially impactful NESCAC championship weekend getting to lose pucks and scoring three of his four goals on the season  in the semis and finals.

In net, the Mules will need Lawrence to be brilliant as he was in the NESCAC tournament. UNE does not have a clear cut starter, as sophomore Tate Sproxton and freshman Ben Churchill  have similar numbers (both have a .906 save percentage) in 13 and 15 games, respectively.  Churchill gave up 5 of the eight goals in the CCC title game, so it will be interesting to see if he gets the start in the NCAA tournament.

It has been a fun ride for Colby so far and hopefully it does not stop tonight. If they win, they will have to head out of the confines of Maine for the NCAA Quarterfinals, but that is a trip I am sure no one on MayFlower Hill would mind making.

In honor of the Mules' and Nor'easters' rise from rough seasons just three years ago and in consideration of  both schools' proximity to Canada (the game is between two schools in Maine, if we forgot to mention that fact), here is Drake with Started From the Bottom. The clean version, of course, because LPfan2004 and other children might read this. 

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