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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass - Riding a season high three-game win streak,
the Williams College men's hockey team faced off against
NESCAC rival and #10 in the D3 national rankings Middlebury,
Tuesday night at Lansing Chapman Rink. Panther forward Mickey
Gilchrest converted a Trevor Dodds pass with only 3:23 left on the
clock in the third period to complete the comeback and defeat the
Ephs 2-1. The game marked the 4th time this season the Ephs (5-6-1)
had faced off against a nationally ranked opponent.
The first period set the tone for the rest of the game with its
ferocious pace and physical play. Ephs and Panthers alike found
themselves back flat on the ice throughout the period as each team
produced several highlight reel checks. However, despite the
grueling tempo neither team surrendered a goal in the period.
The hard-hitting fast paced play that defined the first period
continued into the early goings of the second, as each team
jockeyed for the advantage. It was the Ephs who drew first
blood, when an errant Panther pass was intercepted by Brian
Malchoff who started a transition sequence that ultimately
culminated in a Malchoff goal at the 6:16 mark of the period with
Alex Smigelski and Greg Schultz assisting..
The Ephs had two apparent goals called back by the officials in
the first two periods of the game. First in the first period
when, after a scrum in front of the Panther net, the puck
ricocheted past Panther goalkeeper Doug Raeder (19 saves) and into
the net; and again midway through the second when a similar scrum
appeared to produce another Williams goal. In the first case the
referee ruled that the goal had come loose before the shot, and in
the second that the whistle had blown before the shot got off.
However despite their intense and physical play, the Ephs
repeatedly scuttled momentum on uncharacteristic fouls. The game
took a fateful turn on one such foul, when, with 2:51 left in the
second period, a brief melee broke out between two Eph defenders
and two Panther forwards. The resulting penalties drew the rare
5:00 minute penalty for one Eph and a two minute penalty for two
additional Ephs and two Panthers, and left Williams with four
skaters for four minutes and Middlebury with four skaters for two
minutes.
The Panthers capitalized on the Ephs short-handedness and recorded
a power play goal with only 16 seconds remaining in the
second period, to even the score 1-1at the end of two periods.
The final period played much like the first, with each team
playing a physical brand of hockey and producing multiple chances.
However, as the period progressed the Panthers appeared to be
wearing down the Ephs, with play shifted increasingly towards the
Williams net. Then with just 2:23 remaining the Panthers finally
broke through the Eph defense, with Gilchrest's high glove
side lift that just barely slipped past Eph goaltender Marc Pulde
(40 saves).
Despite the defeat, the game was full of positives for the Ephs -
whose aggressive physical brand of hockey, that had guided the Ephs
to their previous three game run, was vindicated in their ability
to stay neck-n-neck with a quality Middlebury team.
Eph Coach Bill Kangas says there will be more coming from his
Ephs, “Of course we are disappointed about the result, we
just needed to play better - we really expected to get this one. We
just have to continue to get better and look at the positives and
get ready for the big games this weekend.”
This weekend the Ephs host Colby at 7:00 PM Friday and Bowdoin on
Saturday at 3:00 PM.
