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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - The Cardinals of Wesleyan University entered
this afternoon's game against Williams with a chance to steal this
year's Little Three title away from their Massachusetts rivals with
a win. However, they were met with an overwhelming offensive attack
and a strangling defensive strategy that propelled the Ephs to 6-0
shutout victory. Williams (11-4-2) has been victorious in five of
their last six, including their current four-game win streak, and
have improved to 9-2-2 in the NESCAC/ECAC conference. Wesleyan, who
are now winless in their last five games, fall to a 2-12-1 record
with a 2-8-1 conference mark.
Today's game opened with a ceremonial faceoff in honor of former
Williams men's hockey coach Bill McCormick, who led the Ephs for 36
seasons. The coach himself was present at the game, and stepped out
on the ice to drop the puck. Over 100 Williams alumni, including
several former Eph hockey players, came out to support the Ephs and
pay homage to McCormick. They also participated in a series of
alumni games held at the Chapin Rink earlier in the day.
"It was nice to see so many alumni there for Coach McCormick and
it made it that much more satisfying to get the win," commented
current Eph head coach Bill Kangas. "We skated hard for a full
sixty and did all the things we needed to do to earn this victory."
Williams scored early and often in this contest, beginning with
a power-play goal off the stick of senior forward Octavian Jordan,
who intercepted a Cardinal clearing attempt and wristed in the
unassisted game-winner from the top of the circle at 1:59, his
6th on the year. Fellow senior forward Matt Draheim
followed-up later in the period with a bad-angle, wrap-around goal
while the teams skated four-a-side. Draheim added another score to
his stat sheet at 6:39 in the second period in similar, wrap-around
fashion off a dump-in feed from Jordan, giving him 4 goals this
season. Sophomore forward Ryan Young also found the Cardinal net in
that period at 2:16 off a faceoff win by sophomore forward Matt
Masucci.
Other notable efforts were put forth by freshman defenseman
Patrick Morrissey and senior defenseman Christopher Fahey of
Williams. Morrissey registered a goal on a third period 2-on-1 Eph
rush (set-up by a perfect pass from sophomore forward Matt Horan),
as well as an assist on a late third period score by sophomore
forward Jason Guttek during a 5-3 Williams advantage. Fahey also
earned an assist on the Guttek goal, in addition to his assist on
the first Draheim score.
"Our seniors all had impressive games today and led our team by
example," remarked Kangas. "Fahey, Jordan, and Draheim had
particularly strong performance, and Rick Redman, our backup
netminder provided some valuable insight from the bench. Ryan
[Purdy] had a solid day in goal and came up big for us when he
needed to."
Purdy, the freshman netminder, picked up his 2nd
shutout of the season, and remains undefeated with six wins and a
1.43 goals-against average. The Eph penalty kill was a prefect
nine-for-nine on the afternoon, and grew "stronger as the game went
on," according to Kangas.
Williams will face what will be their most difficult challenge
all year on Monday, when they travel to upstate New York to take on
the #1-ranked team in the nation in Plattsburgh. It is a challenge
that Kangas said his team is excited for, and "one that they will
be practicing and preparing hard for." The puck will drop at
7:00pm.
In other conference action, Trinity defeated Middlebury 3-1 and
Amherst trampled Connecticut College by a 7-1 score. Amherst and
Middlebury are now tied for the division lead 10-2-1, just in front
of second-ranked Williams.
"Our main concern is making the playoffs and if we keep up this
level of play, I am confident that we will," concluded Kangas. "It
was great to pick up the four points this weekend and we hope to
take this momentum into the coming week, one that may prove to be
our toughest yet."
