Williamstown, MA– The Williams College Ephs (1-2-0) defeated the #7 Babson Beavers (6-2-1) at home, 2-1, thanks to an overtime goal from junior forward Connor Tobin.
In the first period, the nationally ranked Beavers had more chances, but the Ephs looked plenty dangerous in their own right, and held their own on the other end with some stringent defense. Defensemen Faisal Al-Saif and Jack Simon remained ready, at all times, jumping into the passing lanes and intercepting the cross-ice passes the Beavers tried to link together on the break.
Late in the first period, the Ephs'
Henry Muller opened the scoring with a tidy finish.
Ethan Prout's effort rebounded off of the goalie back out onto the ice, and Muller was there to put it away, giving the Ephs the lead with just over a minute left to play in the period.
The Beavers responded with h a strong offenive push in the second period, making it hard for the Ephs to get out of their zone. Even on the power play opportunity, Williams saw very little of the puck. Still, it was more of the same defensively, and Babson was able to get very little going in the way of good goal-scoring chances. In fact, the Ephs had approximately as many opportunities, carving out three or four threatening efforts on the fast break. The second period ended with Williams still up 1-0, and the two teams almost even in shots on goal, with the Ephs having 25 to the Beavers' 26.
It was a nice adjustment for the Ephs, who in their previous two contests squandered early leads in the second period that they weren't able to regain.
The Ephs began the final period on the front foot, with
Evan Ruschil having to make some saves but the puck generally staying in the Beavers' end. Evan Rashkovsky had a good scoring opportunity six minutes in, when he found himself with some space right in front of the net, but his quick effort was parried wide left.
The Beavers really picked up the pace soon after, and were able to equalize at 10:31, when Brendan Kennedy found his way through the scrum and wrapped a shot around Ruschil. From then on, Ruschil was faced with more and more shots, and the puck spent a greater and greater amount of time in the possession of the Beavers.
With five minutes left in the period, Eph head coach Bill Kangas switched his entire line, and the Ephs went on the offensive. Immediately, they got two shots on target, putting the pressure on Beavers' first-year goalie Nate Mueller, forcing him to make a good catch on the second effort.
Babson regained control, and most of the final minute of play was spent around the Ephs' net, but Ruschil and the defense were able to keep the puck out of the net, and the game went to overtime, the first of the Ephs' season.
With eight men on the ice, four for each team, the Ephs had the first good opportunity of overtime.
Mac Carso left his man in the dust en route to another good Mueller catch, denying the golden goal victory.
Ruschil made an outstanding catch of his own at the two-minute mark, denying a Babson forward who had split the defense and found the space to fire at goal.
On the subsequent attack,
Connor Tobin carried the puck down the ice at pace, joined by two teammates. He elected to take it himself, and won the game for the Ephs, beating Mueller for the second time, before being swarmed by his teammates.
It was a great game for the Ephs, coming away with the victory, their first of the season, against the consensus seventh-best Division III team in the nation, who were playing their ninth game of the season, compared to the third for the Ephs.
While the Ephs ultimately had less possession and fewer shots on goal, the quality of their chances, as well as the intensity of their play was second to none, demonstrated by their dominance in faceoffs, winning 41 to Babson's 29.
Goalie
Evan Ruschil finished with 48 saves and a remarkable .980 save percentage, while the Beavers' Nate Mueller tallied 34 saves on .944.
The Ephs improve to 1-2 and will look to get to .500 tomorrow, when they take on the 8th ranked team in the country, SUNY Geneseo, away.
After the game coach Kangas commented, "It was a good hard fought game against a good team that advanced to the Elite Eight last year and had several players back. "It's still early for us and this is a good game for us to build on."
