Williamstown, Mass. - Sophomore forward Sam Kane (Needham, Mass.) had a goal and an assists and junior Ben Coulthard (South Windsor, Conn.) made 35 saves in goal to lead the visiting Trinity College Bantams to a 3-1 victory over the Williams College Ephs in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's ice hockey action this evening.  Trinity improves to 11-4-3 overall and 8-2-3 in the NESCAC with its fifth straight win, while the No. 10-ranked Ephs fall to 12-5-1 overall and 9-3-1 in the league with their first setback in five games.  Trinity takes the season series against the Ephs, 1-0-1, with a 1-1 tie between the schools in Hartford on January 4.

Kane and junior forward Charlie Mullan (Buffalo, N.Y.) scored the game's first two goals just 40 seconds apart with Kane and sophomore forward Tim Shea (Somerset, Mass.) assisted on Mullan's game-winner.  Peter Mistretta scored at the start of the third frame to narrow the deficit to 2-1, but Trinity senior forward Chris Menard (Burlington, Mas.) put the nail in the coffin with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Both offenses had battled hard to get on the board in the first period, but Coulthard and Eph sophomore goaltender Sean Dougherty kept the game scoreless.  Shortly after a sprawling stop by Dougherty, Coulthard denied Evan Dugdale with a pad save to preserve the 0-0 tie.
Taking advantage of a Williams shot off the iron, the Trinity offense counterattacked as Kane skated up the left side and fired a wrist shot with a Williams defender on him that snuck past Dougherty's pads to give Trinity a 1-0 advantage.  An Eph turnover in the neutral zone gave Trinity a 2-on-1 opportunity in the offensive zone, and Shea skated up the right side of the neutral zone before finding Mullan in front of the net who deked left and flipped the puck past Dougherty.  The Ephs got a flurry of chances at the four-minute mark of the period, but none found the net as the score remained 2-0 heading into the final period.  A Trinity penalty with 11 minutes remaining gave Williams a great chance to tie the score, but a wrist shot from Mike Brofft  deflected off the crossbar.

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