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WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - An overtime goal by defenseman Brian Malchoff '11 broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Williams College men's hockey team (10-3-2) their 10th win of the season over conference opponent New England College (5-10-2).
The defenseman from Avon, CT made a great individual effort to give Williams the win. After gathering the puck in the neutral zone, Malchoff weaved his way through several Pilgrim defensemen with a series of nice moves before deking to his backhand and flipping the puck into the top right corner of the net for the goal.
Added Head Coach Bill Kangas, "Malchoff found a way to take over [in the overtime period]. He is a special player, and he gave a great effort for us this afternoon."
Also contributing for the Ephs was defenseman Stephen Maier '12, who scored his first goal of his Williams College career in the first period. Mark Lyons '13 added his second goal of the year, Connor Olvany '11 scored his tenth goal of the season, and Bryden McGhee '14 notched two assists for the Ephs.
Maier got the Ephs on the board early with his first goal in a Williams uniform seven minutes into the period. The Eph offense controlled the puck near the top of the offensive zone, passing it back and forth along the blue line. McGhee finally found Maier at the top of the right circle and he let loose a quick wrist shot that weaved its way through several Pilgrim defenders and between the goalie's legs to give Williams the 1-0 lead.
New England College responded by drawing a Williams penalty a few minutes later, but some strong forechecking by Olvany kept the puck out of the Williams zone and away from the net. At the end of the power play, the Ephs caught a break after New England College goalie Aaron Harvey went behind the net to handle a clearing attempt. Harvey tried to pass the puck along the boards, but McGhee made a nice hustle play by skating all the way into the corner and picking off the pass. He then whipped around and found Olvany in front of the net for the wide-open goal to make it 2-0 Ephs.
The Pilgrims fought back with a goal of their own at the 14-minute mark. After a faceoff win in the Williams zone, a Pilgrim player shot a very quick wrist shot into the top left corner to cut the Eph lead to 2-1 heading into the first intermission.
The Ephs picked up their offensive intensity in the second period, controlling the puck for a majority of the first five minutes and getting several scoring chances. Their constant pressure finally led to a power play goal at the 9-minute mark. The goal was set up by Justin Troiani '12, who received a pass from Eric Rubino '13 on the left side and took a shot on net. The puck bounced off the goalie's pad and found its way to Lyons, who buried a wrist shot into the top right side of the net to give Williams a 3-1 lead.
Despite their two-goal deficit, New England College refused to go away. The Pilgrims pounded the net with several long shots from the blue line, and at the 14-minute mark of the second period with NEC on the power play, one of these shots tipped off a stick and found its way into the net to cut the lead down to 3-2.
The final period saw several scoring opportunities from both sides, but it was New England College who capitalized yet again to even things at 3-3 with 15 minutes left to play. The goal was very similar to their previous one, as defenseman Richard Ledy fired a shot from the left side that forward Kyle Kozlowski tipped in for the score.
As the game wound down, the Ephs continued to battle offensively to try and gain the lead. Their best chance came from Lyons, who almost scored his second goal of the game when he ripped a shot just wide of the net. Lyons was set up nicely by Matt Doyle '14, who made a diving play to move the puck to the the sophomore forward near the left circle.
The Ephs finished with 35 shots on the afternoon, while the Pilgrims had 19. Goaltender Ryan Purdy made some key saves for Williams and finished the game with 16 saves in 63:13 minutes of play. His counterpart, goaltender Aaron Harvey, made 31 saves in 63:13 minutes of play.
Coach Kangas was pleased with his team's effort: "We had to fight for every goal today, but we continued to battle. Pulling out the win is a real positive for us, and hopefully we can build on it heading into next weekend."
With the overtime win, the Ephs pick up their tenth win of the season and move into first place of the NESCAC standings ahead of Bowdoin College (10-3-2), setting up a showdown with the Polar Bears on Friday night in Brunswick, ME. The puck drops at 7 PM.
