HARTFORD, CT -- The Williams Men's Hockey team (10-4-5) traveled to Hartford on Saturday night to take on the Trinity Bantams (8-8-2) and fell 3-1 in their fourth NESCAC loss of the season.
The Bantams were aided by two power play goals in the first two periods and a strong effort from goaltender Benjamin Coulthard, who stopped 47 shots on the night.
Justin Troiani '12 scored the Ephs' lone goal on the man-advantage with under two minutes to play after head coach Bill Kangas pulled his goalie, but it proved to be too little too late. Twenty seconds later, Trinity added an empty-net goal to seal the 3-1 victory.
Giving senior netminder Ryan Purdy '12 the night off, the Ephs placed their fate on Saturday night in the hands of freshman goaltender Sean Dougherty '15. Dougherty had a strong first period, stopping fifteen Bantam shots to keep the Ephs in the game.
In his fourth start of the season, Dougherty finished the contest with 28 saves in just under 58 minutes of play.
"I thought he did well," said Kangas of his freshman goaltender. "He made some key saves for us, and the goals [Trinity] scored were definitely good goals... The third goal was an empty-net goal, so he only gave up two."
Despite Dougherty's efforts, the Ephs simply could not muster up enough offense to beat Coulthard. They had a great chance to take an early lead less than a minute into the game when Trinity was caught with six men on the ice, but the power play unit failed to capitalize.
"Their goalie made some saves and kept things quiet, but he left a few rebounds early and we weren't able to get there to capitalize on it," added Kangas.
The Ephs' offensive struggles would come back to haunt them at the end of the period, when Trinity drew first blood on a wrist shot from senior forward Sean McCarthy to take the 1-0 lead. McCarthy's goal came on a 4-on-4 opportunity moments after the Bantams had concluded a 4-on-3 man-advantage.
Trinity extended its lead to two goals with six minutes remaining in the second period, this time on the tail end of another power play chance. Just before Eric Rubino '13 exited the penalty box after serving a two-minute minor for tripping, Bantam forward Chris Menard scored on a rebound attempt to put Trinity up 2-0. Brother Jeffrey Menard and junior forward Jordan So added assists on the play.
Searching for a goal in the third period, Williams turned up the offensive pressure and launched 21 shots on net in the game's final twenty minutes. Aided by an extra attacker after pulling Dougherty, the Ephs finally hit paydirt with just 1:29 remaining when Justin Troiani ripped a slapshot past Coulthard to cut the Bantam lead to 2-1. Assisting Troiani on the goal were Craig Kitto '15 and Bryden McGhee '14.
The Bantams responded immediately, however, icing the game twenty seconds later on an empty-net goal off the stick of forward Zachary Lombardi to make it 3-1.
"We weren't able to create enough chances and we weren't able to put enough pucks on net," said Kangas after the game. "That's the way this league is; every night somebody's going to win. You go right down the list, every game you've got to be ready to play. Unfortunately we weren't able to win today, but that's the way this league is."
The Ephs will face another NESCAC test on Sunday as they travel to Middletown to take on the Wesleyan Cardinals. Game time is 3 PM.
