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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The
Williams College
men's hockey team battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie
Bowdoin 4-4 on Friday night at Lansing Chapman
Rink. Bowdoin started fast, scoring 11 seconds
into the game, but Williams rallied to produce their second best
offensive performance of the month and battle for a hard fought
tie.
A year ago Williams ended the Polar
Bears' season at the same rink. Then
sophomore Connor Olvany scored in double overtime to send the Ephs
to the NESCAC semifinals. Bowdoin came back
looking for revenge, but Olvany would play the role of hero for the
Ephs yet again.
Bowdoin came out firing, scoring off the
opening face-off and setting the stage for an action packed first
period. Robert
Toczylowski gathered the puck in the corner and pushed the puck to
the front of the net where Jeff Fanning was there to put a one
timer past Eph goalie Ryan Purdy '12.
Williams answered five minutes later, converting on the power
play. Olvany took the puck from along the goal
line and found senior Captain Alex Smigelski in the high slot where
he blasted a one timer low past Bowdoin goalie Chris
Rossi. Bowdoin scored two minutes
later. Matt Bruch attempted a wraparound and the
puck slipped off his stick, lying in front of the
net. Mitch Dillon was right on the doorstep to
put away his first goal of the season. Bowdoin
took a 3-1 lead midway through the first, converting on the power
play. Daniel Weiniger found a lane and fired a slap shot from the
point that found its way past Purdy. Olvany
brought the Ephs to within one with less than three minutes to go
in the period on a power play when he buried a rebound off a
Smigelski shot.
Olvany scored again, his fourth goal in three
games, just 51 seconds into the second period to tie the
game. Olvany stole the puck as a Bowdoin
defender tried to leave the zone. He turned a
quickly fired a shot over the blocker of Rossi.
Purdy kept Williams in the game moments before when he turned aside
a breakaway with a diving poke check. He stopped
another breakaway four minutes in to keep the score
3-3. Bowdoin regained the lead nine minutes into
the period on the power play. Owen Smith took
the puck in the neutral zone and flew down the wing past the
Williams defender, taking the puck behind the
net. Smith then drew the puck to his backhand
and stuffed a wraparound past Purdy. Bowdoin
seemed to have all the momentum as the period was winding down, but
the Ephs had the answer. Olvany made a great
effort to get the puck out of the zone off of a faceoff, banging
the puck off the boards to set up a 2 on 1.
Junior Ben Contini skated down the wing and made a pretty spin move
to backhand a pass to freshman Eric Rubino who buried the puck.
Williams had a number of opportunities to grab
the lead in the third but came up just short.
Contini used his speed to create a breakaway three minutes into the
period but had the puck slip off his stick wide.
Junior Matty Masucci just missed on a backdoor pass from Olvany
with 13 minutes to go. Bowdoin had a couple
chances of their own, drawing a power play late in the period when
sophomore Pat Morrisey was called for boarding.
Williams killed off the penalty that extended into
overtime. Coming onto the ice for Morrisey was
junior Ryan Young who quickly received a pass and skated in on a 2
on 1 but was denied by Rossi. Freshman Mark
Lyons had another great chance in overtime but couldn't find
the handle on a rebound.
Head Coach Bill Kangas was pleased with the
way the team battled back after giving up three first period
goals: “Even though we got off to a slow start, we
responded well, and we got better as the game went on. We showed
some resiliency battling back. It was a very
good hockey game and was fun to watch.”
The tie leaves Williams a game behind Bowdoin
in the standings, improving the Ephs' record to 7-3-1 in
conference play.
Williams will battle Colby, who fell 7-4 to Middlebury tonight,
tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM.
