New Haven, CT – The Williams College Ephs (2-7-0) came back to campus early from the holiday break to match up away with the Albertus Magnus Falcons (9-5-0). Despite a wacky, penalty-filled end to the second period, the Ephs would control most of the game. After an early Eph goal, the visitors would not concede the lead as they skated to a hard-fought 3-2 victory.
The Ephs were looking to snap a seven-game losing streak as they returned from the holiday break. Their hunger was evident early on as they quickly out shot the Falcons 7-3 in the opening five minutes. The efforts would pay off and were ultimately rewarded with a spectacular team goal.
Ben Lawrick would rim a puck to
Jamie Cates who hit
Henry Muller streaking up the middle of the ice. The ensuing rush saw the puck sent to
Connor Berg who slipped a deft pass to
Nicholas Rashkovsky and the junior buried it home. The Ephs had a chance to extend the lead to two on a following power play, however, the advantage was killed off with the first period ending 1-0 Ephs.
The second period belonged to the Falcons for much of the play. Shot after shot was fired at
Cal Sandquist, but the Eph netminder would come up big en route to a 35-save performance. The Ephs struggled to gain any real offensiv momentum in the period but they would hold on to the lead. The end of the period was chaotic. After the Ephs took a penalty at the 19:05 mark, the Falcons would respond with one of their own. With the play at 4-on-4, the Ephs won a faceoff and
Owen Stadheim found
Connor Tobin for a beautifully executed goal. On the resulting faceoff, the Albertus head coach would receive a bench minor and ejection which gave the Ephs a 4-on-3 advantage going into the third period.n
The power play would never happen, however, as the Ephs were called for a "protocol violation" after they stepped onto the ice early for the third period. The 3-on-3 that followed would be capitalized on by the Falcons to bring the game to 2-1. The Ephs would respond quickly on the power play just after, with
Connor Tobin returning the favor to
Owen Stadheim to restore the two goal lead. The Falcons fired one back quickly after an Eph' cross-checking call put the home team on the man-advantage. With the Ephs up 3-2 midway through the third, they fought hard to see out the victory. With timely blocked shots and poised puck control, they ran down the clock to get their first win in six weeks.
Eph head coach
Bill Kangas commented on the win saying, "It is always good to grind out a win like this. We fought hard to play our style of hockey, and it paid off in the end. It is always nice to have timely scoring and Cal played his heart out in goal. Overall it's great to start the second half with a win like that and it will set the tone for the next few months".
The Ephs will ring in the New Year with an away game at #13 University of New England on January 2nd.
