AMHERST, MA -- A valiant comeback effort by the Williams Men's Hockey team (4-1-2) was stymied by Amherst College (6-1-0), who handed the Ephs their first loss of the season on Friday night.
After Williams jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the first period, the Lord Jeffs scored four unanswered goals to take a commanding 5-2 lead late into the game. The Ephs refused go away quietly though, as consecutive power play goals from Justin Troiani '12 and Evan Dugdale '13 narrowed the deficit to 5-4.
In the end, however, the clock ran out on the Ephs, as a number of scoring chances sailed wide and Amherst held on for the win.
The game was predicted to be a low-scoring affair on paper, as Williams and Amherst entered the night with the third- and second-ranked defenses in the league, respectively. Despite these statistics, the first period was far from a defensive battle, as the two squads poured in five combined goals in the game's first twenty minutes.
Amherst drew first blood just three minutes into the action when Jeremy Deutsch scored on a soft shot that slipped through the grasp of Ryan Purdy '12 to give the Jeffs a 1-0 advantage.
The Ephs responded quickly, as Eric Rubino '13 deposited his fourth goal of the year less than a minute later to tie the score at 1-1.
Halfway through the period, defenseman Patrick Morrissey '12 scored the Ephs' second straight goal and his first of the season to give his team an early 2-1 lead. Morrissey's goal was set up by some strong forechecking from Dugdale and John Wickman '13 as they managed to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Dugdale found Morrissey on a pass near the blue line, and the senior defenseman ripped a wrist shot past Amherst goaltender Jonathan La Rose for the score.
The Lord Jeffs would not be outdone, however. Just past the halfway point in the period, Amherst forward Mark Colp scored the equalizing goal when his shot just trickled through the legs of Purdy, tying the score at 2-2.
Amherst took advantage of two Eph penalties late in the first period to score the go-ahead goal. Aided by a five-on-three man-advantage for the period's final minute, the Lord Jeffs won a faceoff in the Williams defensive zone with ten seconds remaining. Colp took a shot from the left side that was initially stopped by Purdy. The puck bounced to Purdy's left, where Amherst forward Jamie Hawkrigg was waiting to flip it in to give the Lord Jeffs a 3-2 lead heading into the locker room.
Neither squad could find the net in the second period, as both defenses clamped down to limit offensive rushes and scoring chances.
Amherst came out firing on all cylinders in the final frame. Less than a minute into the period, the Lord Jeffs cashed in on a rebound goal off the stick of freshman forward Mike Moher to extend the lead to 4-2. Mark Colp added an assist on the initial shot.
The Lord Jeffs widened the margin to 5-2 four minutes later on a nice individual effort from freshman forward Michael Cashman. Skating in on a 2-on-1 breakaway, Cashman avoided a diving Ryan Scott '12 and found junior forward Dylan Trumble in front of the net for the score.
Williams appeared to be out of luck down three goals with under seven minutes to go, but a power play at the six-minute mark gave the Ephs a spark of life. With time winding down on the man-advantage, Troiani gained control of a loose puck in front of the net and flipped it in to narrow the score to 5-3.
Eric Rubino added the assist and led all Eph scorers with two points (one goal, one assist).
Two minutes later, the Ephs caught a break with another Amherst penalty, and once again they capitalized. In a similar fashion to Troiani's goal, Dugdale managed to grab hold of the puck amid a swarm of players and sneak it past La Rose to make it a one-goal game. Mark Lyons '13 and David Jarrett '15 contributed the assists.
Coach Bill Kangas pulled Purdy from net in the final minute, and the Ephs almost tied it on the man-advantage with twenty seconds remaining. After a flurry of Eph shots from the left circle, the puck came loose on the right side to Troiani, who fired a slapshot towards the net. In the play of the night, La Rose dove across the crease and made a sprawling save to deflect Troiani's shot and seal the win for the Lord Jeffs.
Both goaltenders finished the night with 22 saves. Purdy saw 27 shots in 60 minutes of play, while La Rose faced 26 shots in 60 minutes of play.
After the game, Kangas commented on his team's resiliency down the stretch. "In the last six minutes of the game, we competed and put everything into it. The guys did all the little things; they won the battles and fought a little extra to win the puck."
"We know that's the way we have to play. We to have to compete hard, but at the same time it's disappointing that we didn't bring it right away [in the first and second periods]," Kangas added.
The Ephs will look to bounce back in another NESCAC matchup on Saturday afternoon as they take on the Hamilton Continentals (3-3-1) in Clinton, NY. The puck drops at 3 PM.
