Oswego, NY – After 60 minutes of hockey, Williams College (3-7) and Saint Anselm's College (9-4-1) were tied at three apiece. When a loose puck squirted out to the slot, Saint Anselm's Mark Blaney would take his opportunity and fire the Hawks past the Ephs 4-3.
It would not take long for action in this matchup, as the Ephs found themselves down a man early into the first. After holding off the Hawks' attack,
Owen Stadheim would chip a puck out of the zone and hunt it down. With a clear-cut breakaway, the sophomore would coolly slide the puck between the legs of the goalie to put the Ephs up 1-0.
Saint Anselm's would quickly answer back with a goal of their own to tie the game; however, just four minutes later,
Jonah Gold would bury a chance created by
Trevor O'Brien and
Ethan Prout to regain the Ephs' lead heading into the second.
William's goaltender
Alex Cardonick would stand tall in the opening frame, making 14 of his 28 saves in the first period. Today marked Cardonick's first start of his career, and Coach Kangas had this to say about his performance: "I thought 'Cardo' played very well in his first college start, making some outstanding saves. I know the team competed hard in front of him, hoping to give him a better game result".
The Hawks came out hard in the second period looking for a response to their early deficit. Their effort would pay off as they were rewarded with two quick goals, just minutes apart, to take their first lead of the contest. Williams would not back down from this challenge as
Sean Clarke would capitalize off a scrum in front of the Hawk's goal to level the game at 3-3.
The third period was an end-to-end battle with chances squandered at each goal; when the buzzer sounded at the end of 60 minutes, neither team had edged themselves in front which meant we were headed to overtime. Despite a few good spells of possession early into OT, the Ephs would fall to a Hawk's snipe midway through the extra frame.
The Ephs will end 2022 with a 3-7 record and will look to correct their disappointing start with a home game against Trinity College on January 6
th.
