Amherst, Mass. – The Trinity College Bantams and Connecticut College Camels opened up the 2011 Ben McCabe Men's Ice Hockey Tournament on the campus of Amherst College this afternoon in men's ice hockey action. After finishing regulation and overtime tied at 2-2, Trinity earned a spot in tomorrow's 4 p.m. title game against the host Amherst Lord Jeffs with a 3-2 win in the shootout. Trinity moves to 2-4-1 and Conn shifts to 3-3-1.
The first period was extremely fast paced, but despite combining to put 23 shots on net neither team could find a score. With just 1:43 to play in the first period, Trinity's Derek Sandberg (St. Lazare, Quebec) was sent to the penalty box on a tripping penalty after he took out the legs of a Camel skater at the blue line. During the late Camel power play, the Bantams had the best two chances in the final seconds on a pair of short-handed bids.
Just after the midpoint of the second stanza a pair of skaters were sent to the box with matching penalties, setting up two minutes of 4-on-4 action. With 24 seconds to play in the 4-on-4, Trinity's Joseph Tierney (Reading, Mass.) broke down the left wing to skate in alone on Andrew Margolin (Mahwah, N.J.). Tierney looked five hol,e but Margolin made the necessary save.
The Camels finally broke through with just under three minutes remaining in the second period, once again during a session of 4-on-4 action. Sean Curran (Willmette, Ill.) found J.J. Mcgregor (Wichita, Kansas) on the doorstep with a cross-ice pass off a backdoor cut for a one-time finish into the open net past Bantam senior backstop Wes Vesprini (Lexington, Mass.).
Just 21 seconds into the third period Trinity found the equalizer on a 3-on-1 break. Zach Lombardi (Locust Valley, N.Y.) scored to tie the game 1-1, with assists going to Joseph Tierney (Reading, Mass.) and Adam Houli (Howell, N.J.). Trinity took a 2-1 lead with 16:09 to play in the third, as Jeffrey Menard (Burlington, Mass.) showed up on the Conn College crease to backhand in the rebound from a Chris Menard (Burlington, Mass.) shot. The lead lasted less than a minute, as the Camels tied the game 2-2 just eight seconds into a power play. The game's fourth goal was scored by Curran with 4:37 to play.
Trinity caught a break with 2:44 to play as Connecticut College's Sean Murray (Stamford, Conn.) was whistled for high-sticking. The penalty gave the Bantams a critical power play in the final moments of a tied game. Trinity could not find a game-winner with the extra skater, and after five minutes of scoreless overtime action the two teams were headed for a shoot-out.
Trinity scored its first and third attempts in the shoot-out, while Vesprini made two saves on Conn. College attempts to steal the win. Sophomore forward Jordan So (Toronto, Ontario) scored the clinching goal, taking a long sweeping line before lifting a bid over Margolin's blocker for the tally. Vesprini made 33 saves for Trinity in the win, including two convincing saves in the shoot-out. Margolin made 30 saves of his own in the loss for Conn. College.
