#8Tufts at #1 Trinity 1 PM
Tufts (6-15-3; 3-12-5)
Offense - 1.89 G/GM (10th)
Defense - 2.78 G/GM (6th)
PIM - 10.4 /GM (2nd)
Power Play - 12.7% (8th)
Penalty Kill - 83% (6th)
Special Teams Net - -6 (7th)
Trinity (16-3-5; 12-2-4 NESCAC)
Offense - 3.11 G/GM (1st)
Defense - 1.67 G/GM (2nd)
PIM - 10.7/GM (1st)
Power Play - 20.3% (1st)
Penalty Kill - 87.5% (3rd)
Special Teams Net - +4 (4th)
Trinity Preview Tufts Preview
https://www.bantamsports.com/sports/mice/2018-19/releases/Men-s_Ice_Hockey_201819
The Lowdown: The More Things Change, the more they stay the same
Death, taxes, and Trinity and Tufts in the playoffs. This will be the fifth straight season the Jumbos and Bantams meet in Hartford in the NESCAC playoffs with Trinity winning the last three after the eighth seeded Jumbos shocked top seeded Trinity in the 2015 quarters. It's the sixth meeting overall with the Bantams winning the one other time the teams met in the postseason.
Not only is the matchup familiar, the teams stats are largely familiar from year to year. Last year's Tufts defense? 2.78 goals allowed in conference play, the same as this year's mark entering the quarterfinals. Trinity's offense? You guessed it, the exact same as last season (3.11 G/GM). The Bantams offensive attack - which saw 100 point club members in the last few senior classes - has 12 skaters in double digit points, with only one senior, Ryan Pfeffer, in that group. After the graduation of Alex Morin, Trinity has platooned junior Teddy Loughborough and frosh Jonah Capriotti to the tune of a .930 save percentage and 1.76 GAA (in all games). Look for Loughborough in net tomorrow.
The Jumbos have also gone to a platoon of sophomore Drew Hotte (.921 save percentage in 16 games) and sophomore Josh Sarlo (.929 in 10 games) with Hotte getting the bulk of the minutes down the stretch. Hotte started in the season opener against the Bantams, a 3-0 loss despite a solid performance from the second year netminder, while Sarlo stood on his head for 59 saves for a 1-1 tie in Hatford just over a month ago. Goals are likely to be sparse for the Jumbos in this one - only two players in double digit scoring (Tyler Scroggins and Anthony Faranacci) - so they will likely need a lights out performance in net to rekindle the magic of 2015 and 2016 when they won in the quarters as an eigth seed.
It will be interesting to see the crowd in Hatford on Saturday. Not a fanbase that has shown much appreciation for the hockey excellence the last half-decade, the Bantam faithful showed some spirit last weekend as Trinity needed to sweep Wesleyan to earn the top spot in these playoffs. The crowd went nuts - well, relatively speaking when you factor in this is a DIII fanbase - when St. Lawrence transfer Taggart Corriveau delivered the game winner and top seed clincher in the final five seconds last week.
Pre-game Tweet/ 'Gram
#5 Williams at #4 Hamilton 1 PM
Williams (14-18-2;10-6-2 NESCAC)
Offense - 2.83 G/GM (5th)
Defense - 2.28 G/GM (4th)
PIM - 7.0 GM (10th)
Power Play - 10.3% (10th)
Penalty Kill - 85.7% (5th)
Special Teams Net - +5 (3rd)
Hamilton (12-9-3; 10-5-3)
Offense - 2.94 G/GM (4th)
Defense - 2.89 G/GM (8th)
PIM - 8.2 GM (9th)
Power Play - 21.3% (1st)
Penalty Kill - 86.2% (4th)
Special Teams Net - +4 (4th)
The Lowdown: Run it Back
If not for those pesky academic obligations, Williams could have bunked up in Clinton, NY for a week after their 4-2 loss last Saturday earned them a return trip to central, NY this weekend. The Ephs went 1-4-1 down the stretch to go from ranked team to road team in their own conference playoffs. The Ephs, back under Bill Kangas after a year sabbatical, have made seven of the last nine NESCAC semifinals and remain dangerous despite their travails in February.
Hamilton hosts a fourth straight NESCAC quarterfinal game after hosting only two in the first sixteen years of conference play. Sage Rink has not been such friendly confines in the playoffs as the Conts have gone 1-2 in the past three seasons including two losses as the fourth seed. This will be the first home playoff game post Evan "Boots" Buitenhuis ('18), who currently plays for the Worcester Railers of the ECHL and recently had his first pro shutout with 47 saves. Junior Anthony Tirabassi has taken over in between the pipes to mixed results this season (.912 save percentage and 2.74 GAA) but did not dress in the final regular season game (injury?). Freshman Sean Storr made 34 saves in his place to earn the home playoff game.
The Ephs have turned to senior Michael Pinios for the fourth straight year (75 collegiate appearances), though the Montreal native has never matched the magic of his freshman campaign. Pinios has made 22 appearances this seasons with a .914 save percentage and 2.27 GAA (.909 and 2.44 in conference games).
Up front the Ephs have been paced by a breakout senior season from California native Marcus Mollica. The Taft product has been one of the leading scorers in the NESCAC (14-13-27) after netting just 22 points in his first three collegiate seasons. Last year's leading scorer Roberto Cellini has put up 16 assists in his senior season while freshman Nick Altmann has been the most productive member of the eight man freshman class with his ten tallies.
Hamilton, who enters the game on the opposite end of the momentum spectrum with a 4-0-1 record in their last five, is paced by seniors Jason Brochu (9-11-20) and Rory Gagon (8-10-18). The Conts also own the historical momentum with a 2-0 record in the playoffs against Williams, though the last matchup was in 2010, so take that for whatever you will.
The game features the two least penalized teams in the NESCAC, which means we are probably in for a blood bath of game misconducts and DQs, because playoff hockey don't give an expletive about regular season stats.
Pre-game Tweet/ 'Gram
Hamilton hosts a fourth straight NESCAC quarterfinal game after hosting only two in the first sixteen years of conference play. Sage Rink has not been such friendly confines in the playoffs as the Conts have gone 1-2 in the past three seasons including two losses as the fourth seed. This will be the first home playoff game post Evan "Boots" Buitenhuis ('18), who currently plays for the Worcester Railers of the ECHL and recently had his first pro shutout with 47 saves. Junior Anthony Tirabassi has taken over in between the pipes to mixed results this season (.912 save percentage and 2.74 GAA) but did not dress in the final regular season game (injury?). Freshman Sean Storr made 34 saves in his place to earn the home playoff game.
The Ephs have turned to senior Michael Pinios for the fourth straight year (75 collegiate appearances), though the Montreal native has never matched the magic of his freshman campaign. Pinios has made 22 appearances this seasons with a .914 save percentage and 2.27 GAA (.909 and 2.44 in conference games).
Up front the Ephs have been paced by a breakout senior season from California native Marcus Mollica. The Taft product has been one of the leading scorers in the NESCAC (14-13-27) after netting just 22 points in his first three collegiate seasons. Last year's leading scorer Roberto Cellini has put up 16 assists in his senior season while freshman Nick Altmann has been the most productive member of the eight man freshman class with his ten tallies.
Hamilton, who enters the game on the opposite end of the momentum spectrum with a 4-0-1 record in their last five, is paced by seniors Jason Brochu (9-11-20) and Rory Gagon (8-10-18). The Conts also own the historical momentum with a 2-0 record in the playoffs against Williams, though the last matchup was in 2010, so take that for whatever you will.
The game features the two least penalized teams in the NESCAC, which means we are probably in for a blood bath of game misconducts and DQs, because playoff hockey don't give an expletive about regular season stats.
Pre-game Tweet/ 'Gram
We barely post this year and now we are choosing * Papa Roach * songs. I know, I know, but hear me out. At the DIII Phrozen Phour last season, national champion coach Tim Coghlin of St. Norbert recounted the wisdom he learned from former Middlebury G.O.A.T Bill Beaney that come playoff time it is almost autopilot mode from a coaching perspective, as you trust that you have prepped your team all season and now it basically runs on its own. In honor of this, here's - yes - Papa Roach with the pretty, pretty...pretty good (or catchy, at least) track "Elevate" off their recently released tenth studio album "Who Do you Trust?"
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