Box
Score
Photo
Gallery
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass - The Williams College men's hockey team
tallied three scores in the final period en route to defeating New
England College 4-2 Friday. The win comes after the Ephs suffered a
decisive defeat against Bowdoin last weekend, and improves their
record to 8-4-2 (6-2-2 Conference). The Pilgrims, who just two
weeks ago were sitting at the top of the conference with a 9-2
record, have now lost three of their last four and fall to 10-5.
Matt Masucci, Connor Olvany, Brett Haraguchi, and Andrew Lepore
each recorded goals for the Ephs, but it was first year goaltender
Ryan Purdy and the defense who stole the show. In just his second
collegiate start, Purdy tallied an astronomical 46 saves in a near
shutout effort.
However, the Ephs were far from perfect. They surrendered 48
shots to the visiting Pilgrims, a statistic heavily augmented by
yet another penalty prone performance by the Ephs -- who committed
nine penalties for a total of 18 penalty minutes and offered up
seven power play opportunities to a very quality New England
College team.
"We definitely played well today, but again we took too many
penalties down the stretch." Remarked Eph coach Bill Kangas, "But,
good teams find a way to win and we were able to do that tonight."
The Ephs notched the games lone pre-third period score 6:25 into
the game when excellent puck movement culminated in a Lepore feed
from the corner to a waiting Masucci who knocked it past Pilgrim
goaltender, Aaron Harvey (37 saves), from point blank range to give
the Ephs the 1-0 advantage.
Each team traded near misses in the 2nd period, but
thanks in large part to the play of Purdy the Ephs maintained their
advantage into the games final Stanza. Purdy had several big saves
late in the period, including an acrobatic diving stop during a
Pilgrim power play, to ensure the Ephs stayed ahead.
The Pilgrims came out firing in the final period, but the Ephs
proved resilient early as the wall Purdy erected in the net allowed
the Ephs to kill several power plays until they were ready to
counter.
That moment came in the ninth minute of the period, when the
Ephs took advantage of a five on five opportunity off of Olvany's
shot that slipped between the skates of Harvey to give the Ephs the
2-0 advantage. But the Ephs weren't done, and struck again under
two minutes later off of the break away score from Haraguchi to
give Williams breathing room at 3-0.
The Pilgrims would make it interesting in the games waning
moments notching two quick scores to spoil Purdy's shutout, but
that proved to be all the affect the offensive burst would have as
the Ephs would add an open net goal off the stick of Lepore to
settle the score at 4-2.
The Ephs host another conference power tomorrow, January 23,
when they face off against St. Anslem. That game is scheduled to
begin at 3:00 PM.
