Waterville, ME – The culmination of a long Maine road trip saw the Williams College Ephs (4-11-1, 2-7-1) taking on the Colby College Mules (9-6-1, 7-3-1). In a game full of special teams opportunities, it would be the Mules who came out on top following a controversial second-period powerplay tally.
The Ephs were determined to start with more urgency than last night at Bowdoin and were rewarded with an early powerplay at the 16:50 mark. After some nice passing from
Jonah Gold and
Connor Berg,
Mac Carso found himself in the slot and fired the Ephs into the lead. Colby would not waste any time in finding the equalizer, however, scoring just three minutes later to level the game at 1-1. As the clock wound down in the first, a Colby odd-man rush produced a bouncing puck which was put home with 9 seconds left to give Colby the lead into the locker room.
Williams came out with vengeance in the second, pressuring the Mules and pinning them in their defensive zone for much of the period. Chance after chance was hurled at Colby goaltender Andy Beran; his performance stymied the Ephs for most of the game and he would accumulate 36 saves for his effort.
It was the Mules who would strike next, however, as they found themselves a man up with two minutes left in the second period. As a pass was slid across the zone, a scrum in front of
Cal Sandquist knocked his helmet off and while play continued the Mules would pot home the chance. Despite heavy protesting from the Ephs, the goal would stand, and the frustrated visitors would head to the room down two.
The third period consisted of much of the same play, the Ephs firing shots toward the Colby net with Beran standing tall. On the other side of the ice,
Cal Sandquist would once again put up a stellar performance to keep the Ephs challenging deep into the game. Just past the halfway mark of the third period, Colby would take another penalty and the Ephs were in a prime spot to make a push. After a failed zone entry, Colby quickly countered up the ice and buried a 2-on-1 rush to extend the lead to three. With the powerplay still intact,
Jonah Gold would bat the puck home from midair to halve the deficit, but the Ephs would ultimately come up short.
Ephs' Coach
Bill Kangas said this after the loss: "I thought we played one of our best 200' games of the year today. We had good energy, compete, and focus. Through our efforts, we created a large number of grade-A chances, but unfortunately, we were not able to convert. Give credit to Colby's team defense and goaltender. However, it was nice to see our power play net two goals. In reflecting on the weekend, we need to take this game as a building block as we prepare for two tough home games versus Tufts University and Connecticut College. Next weekend is especially motivating since our hockey alumni will be back on campus".
The Ephs will look to get back to winning ways as they host Tufts on Friday at 7 PM.
