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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass -Looking to rebound
following Tuesday's loss to Middlebury, the Williams College
men's hockey team hosted NESCAC foe Colby College Friday
night in Lansing Chapman Rink. Both teams came in having just come
off of close defeats (Williams 2-1 against Middlebury, Colby 3-2
against New England College), and looking to get back on track.
However, it was Colby who appeared headed in the right direction,
in recovering from an early deficit en route to putting down
Williams 7-5 Friday.
The game started the same way most of the
rejuvenated Ephs contests have in their recent run -with fast
paced physical hockey. Each team tested theothers defense in
the first half of the opening period, but it was the Ephs who broke
through first when Ryan Young perfectly redirected a transition
pass from Matt Masucci to put the Ephs up 1-0 only 7:52 into the
game.
However, the physical play took a toll on the Ephs and forced them
to take penalties, which the Mules exploited in netting two goals
in a two minute span.First at 4:03 when, on the power play, Josh
Reber converted a short pass from Michael Belliveau to even it up,
and then at 16:07 when Billy Crinnion finished off the give-n-go
from Reber to put the Mules up 2-1 after the first
period.
Colby maintained its momentum into the early goings of the second
period, getting Crinnion's second consecutive goal only 3:56
into the period. The Ephs responded with a picturesque goal of
their own three minutes later, when Matt Dreiheim, Alex Smigeslski,
and Ryan Young worked the puck through and around the Colby defense
before Dreiheim finally tapped it in. However, the Mules quickly
restored the advantage when Reber fought through a scrum in front
of the Eph net and flicked the puck past Eph goal tender Marc Pulde
(39 saves) to record his second goal of the net and make the score
4-2.
But following a power play kill by the Ephs, the team began to
pick up speed and created multiple scoring opportunities late in
the period. Finally, with 2:18remaining, Brian Malchoff converted
the deflection produced by Young's sensational slashing run
in front of the net, to cut the deficit to one. The Mules would go
on the offensive following the Eph goal, but Williams survived the
threats and went into the final period down only 4-3.
The Mules tried to put the hammer down on Williams comeback bid
right away in the games final period, getting a quick goal at the
end of Jared Crittenden's impressive coast-to-coast run only
seventeen seconds into the period. Middlebury would notch an
additional two power play goals in the games next six minutes,
giving any Eph comback bid a nearly insurmountable four goal
deficit.
The Mules defense more than proved their worth throughout the
games final period two periods, as they harassed the Eph passing
lanes, bullied the Eph forwards in front of the net, and acted as
the spring board for their teams third period offensive surge. In a
particularly noteworthy performance, the Mules defense denied the
hungry Ephs for the duration of a five minute Williams power play
in the later part of the third period. However, the Mules were
aided by a horrible spell of poor shooting for the Ephs, which saw
them misfire on several high percentage shots.
A brief bright spot appeared for the Ephs in the last few moments
of the game, when Eph goal tender Rick Redmond (who entered to
relieve Pulde) sniffed out and denied Colby on a penalty shot,
which only seconds before, had seemed poised to raise the Mule
advantage even further. Fueling off of the stop, the Ephs recorded
two late goals in the games final two minutes -off of goals from
Owen Holm and Ryan Young- to cut the deficit to only two
goals. However, it was it was too little to late for the Ephs, as
they fell 7-5.
The loss marks the teams second consecutive defeat following their
three game win streak, and leaves the Ephs 5-7-1. Colby on the
other hand improves to 7-5.
“We didn't play our best game tonight.” remarked
Eph coach Bill Kangas, “We need to have better preparation
from the guys if we want to take that next step. Hopefully, we will
see that tomorrow.”
The Ephs play conference foe Bowdoin tomorrow in Williamstown at
3:00 PM.
