CLINTON, NY -- The Williams Men's Hockey team (5-1-2) scored three goals in the third period to secure a decisive 5-1 win over NESCAC foe Hamilton College (3-4-1) on Saturday afternoon.
Entering the final period with a 2-1 lead, the Ephs sealed their fifth victory of the season with goals from Evan Dugdale '13, Justin Troiani '12, and Cody Skinner '13.
It was truly a team effort for Williams on Saturday afternoon, as a remarkable twelve different Ephs tallied a point. Nick Anderson '14 was the only Eph with more than one point, as he added two assists. On the defensive end, goaltender Ryan Purdy '12 returned to top form by stopping 33 of 34 shots from the Continentals in a full 60 minutes of play.
"It really was [a team effort]," remarked Head Coach Bill Kangas after the game. "That's when we're at our best, when everybody's pitching in. If you go across the board, all four of our lines and all six of our [defensive pairings] were chipping in."
The first period was a defensive affair for both squads, as the Ephs fought hard regain their offensive rhythm after an exhausting 5-4 loss to Amherst on Friday night. Despite entering the action near the bottom of the NESCAC standings, Hamilton had considerable momentum following a 3-0 upset of top-ranked Middlebury on Friday.
The Ephs collected the first goal of the afternoon about six minutes into the period when they capitalized on a Hamilton turnover in their defensive zone. Pouncing on the loose puck near the blue line was Peter Mistretta '15, who quickly relayed it to Matt Doyle '14 at the right faceoff circle. Doyle fired a wrist shot past Hamilton goaltender Joe Quattrocchi to put Williams up 1-0.
The Continentals had several chances to tie the score early on when the Ephs took two penalties, one offsetting, to give Hamilton a 4-on-3 advantage. Purdy and the Eph defense were up to the task, however. The senior goaltender turned away a flurry of Continental shots and the Eph defenders pounced on the rebound attempts to keep the score at 1-0 after twenty minutes of play.
"We defended well in front of the net, and I thought Purdy deflected pucks real well," noted Kangas. "We're at our best when we're crowding the nets and we're taking away second-chance opportunities."
Hamilton finally responded with an equalizing goal just thirty seconds into the second period. After working the puck into the Hamilton offensive zone, junior defenseman Andrew White found sophomore forward Michael DiMare in front of the net for the equalizer to even things at 1-1.
With less than a minute to go in the second period, the Ephs took back the lead with a timely goal from Eric Rubino '13, his second in two games. Rubino was assisted by co-captain Ryan Scott '12 and Craig Kitto '15. The senior defenseman and freshman forward helped move the puck quickly out of the defensive zone to a streaking Rubino, who flipped it on the left side to give the Ephs a 2-1 advantage at the end of two periods.
The third period was all Ephs, as they limited the Continentals to a handful of scoring chances while depositing three goals of their own.
Dugdale started things off about seven minutes into the period, aided by a strong individual effort from Mark Lyons '13. Spotting a loose puck on the left side of the net, Lyons made a diving play to tip it across the goal mouth, where Dugdale was waiting alone to tap it home. John Wickman '13 added the secondary assist as the Ephs extended their lead to 3-1.
With six minutes remaining in the game, Troiani added the second goal of the period to give the Ephs a commanding 4-1 advantage. After fellow defenseman Mike Brofft '13 found Troiani at the blue line with a sharp pass, the senior defenseman skated in alone and made a nice move to his backhand to beat Quattrocchi for the goal.
Quattrocchi stopped 25 of 30 Ephs shots in 60 minutes of play for the Continentals.
The Ephs poured on one more goal with less than two minutes remaining on a 2-on-1 odd-man rush. Controlling the puck on the right side, Nick Anderson '14 made a tape-to-tape pass to Skinner at the left circle, and Skinner snuck a wrist shot into the top right corner of the net to widen the margin to 5-1.
After Saturday's victory, Williams trails only Amherst in the NESCAC standings with a 4-1-1 conference record and now stands at 5-1-2 heading into the holiday break.
Williams will get an extended break over the December holidays and will not return to the ice until after the New Year. The Ephs resume action on January 3rd when they take on Westfield State on the road at 7:35 PM.
