#4 Hamilton at #1 Trinity 4:30 PM (team stats are conference games from regular season)
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)
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)
The Lowdown: The Boots-Ewing Theory
The Ringer and Grantland founder (and insufferable New England Sports Fan) Bill Simmons (aka "The Sports Guy") popularized a phenomenon known as "The Ewing Theory" which basically boils down to teams inexplicably doing better once they lose their best player a la the New York Knicks in 1999 after losing Patrick Ewing to injury. If the Hamilton Continentals can upset Trinity and take a NESCAC title on the Bantams ice this weekend, we may have a DIII example of this silly theory in action.
The Continentals have been to one NESCAC title game, against these very same Bantams in 2017, when the host Conts lost 3-2 in OT on home ice. The losing goaltender in that game was Evan Buitenhuis, who would go on to win DIII Player of the Year honors and is perhaps the best netminder in the NESCAC since fellow Hamilton netminder and NHL alum Guy Hebert laced them up in the late 80s. Despite having Boots, the Continentals only advanced out of the NESCAC quarterfinals once in his fours seasons in Clinton, NY.
On the other end, Trinity has had so much success recently - national title in 2015, national runner up in 2017, three straight NESCAC finals appearances, three 100 club scorers in the previous two seasons, etc. and so on - that their success is not so intimately tied to one player.
Hamilton coach Rob Haberbusch and his squad will look to prove that the program was more than just one player. Key to that success will be senior Jason Brochu, who was recently named to the All-NESCAC Second Team after a two goal game in the 4-3 OT win over Williams in the quarterfinals, including the tally in the extra frame that sent the Conts to Hartford. He was joined on the Second Team by Bentley transfer, but still freshman, Nick Rutigliano, a smooth passing blueliner.
Trinity has plenty of All-NESCAC players of their own, including a fellow first year NESCACer in Lucas Michaud, Rookie of the Year and the only pure freshman to make on the All-NESCAC teams. In the back, sophomore Michael Grande made the First Team All-NESCAC team, not to mention his partner junior Liam Feeney, who didn't make an All-NESCAC team but was named as Concannon Award Semifinalist for the best American born player in DIII New England hockey. Then ther's players like St. Lawrence transfer Taggart Corriveau, who only has 14 points on the season but six of those (4-2-6) are in the last four games.
That's also not to mention Second Team All-NESCAC goalie Teddy Loughborough for the Bants, who has been hot down the stretch with a .967 save percentage in his last seven starts. While the Conts replacement for Boots, Anthony Tirrabassi, has been more up and down this season, he did havea 50 save effort the last time these two met in Hartford, a 2-2 tie in November, and followed that up with a 43 save performance against the Bants in Clinton for a 3-3 tie.
While Trinity hasn't lost since January 4th to Williams, the NCAA Pairwise Rankings this week (#9 for Trinity) makes it clear that they'll have to win today and tomorrow to get into the tournament. Hamilton will also have to win the NESCAC tournament to get in as they don't have the resume of the 2017 Buitenhuis led team that got an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. But Buitenhuis, like Ewing with the NBA finals, never won a NESCAC title.
Pre-Game Tweet/Gram
And finally, for those with no rooting interest except for a great game, including the original @NESCAC hockey blog @NESCACicehockey and his counterpart @hockeyinthecac, here are the game stats and game notes for Semifinal No. 2 pic.twitter.com/zwVIB7Ngws— Jake Donnelly (@JacobDonnelly31) March 2, 2019
I don't think either the Bantams or the Continentals should have any problem getting up for a NESCAC playoff game with their seasons on the line.
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