Hartford, Conn. – The Trinity College Bantams and the Hamilton College Continentals skated to a 1-1 tie this afternoon in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) this afternoon at Williams Rink in the Koeppel Community Sports Center this afternoon.  Trinity, ranked No. 7 nationally, fails to win for the first time this season and is now 3-0-1 overall and in the NESCAC, while the Continentals move to 1-1-1 overall and in the league after a 1-0-1 weekend thanks to a 4-0 win at Wesleyan last evening.  The Bantams won their first three games, each by a score of 7-2, entering today's contest.

The team combined for 23 shots in the first period, including 14 by the Bantams on Hamilton freshman goalie Evan Buitenhuis (Burlington, Ontario), but the horn sounded with no score.  Trinity's best chance came on a one-on-one opportunity by senior forward Liam McKillop (New York, N.Y.) that was stopped by Buitenhuis.  The Continentals broke the ice when Pat Curtis (Ashland, Mass.) scored from Kenny Matheson (Pointe Claire, Quebec) 9:41 into the second period.  Trinity tied it with 5:22 left in the second, as junior forward Michael Hawkrigg (Toronto, Ontario) jumped on a deflected pass from the right wing and poked the puck past Buitenhuis for the lone Bantam goal of the day.  Trinity junior goalie Nathaniel Heilbron (West Vancouver, British Columbia) kept the game tied with a key save against on a Jon Carkeek (Poenix, Ariz.) shot with 30 seconds before the second break.

In this third period, Buitenhuis totaled 14 saves to equal his total for the each of the first two frames, including a diving stop against Trinity senior forward Jackson Brewer (Newton, Mass.) from close to the left of the net with 1:48 left in regulation.  Continental forward Robbie Murden (Georgetown, Ontario) nearly ended it in the closing seconds, but Heilbron saved the shot with three seconds left after Murden had stolen the puck from the Trinity defense inside the left face-off circle. 

Trinity came close to an overtime victory on two occasions, when junior defenseman Ben Hjalmarsson (Stockholm, Sweden) was stopped by Buitenhuis on a rush with 2:20 on the clock, and when sophomore forward Brandon Cole's (Anchorage, Alaska) wrister from the left wing in transition sailed by the Hamilton netminder but just wide of the net. Heilbron made one of his two overtime stops with a glove save just above his head on a rocket through traffic by Hamilton forward Truman Landowski (Appleton, Wisc.) with 41 seconds remaining.  Heilbron and Buitenhuis combined for 76 saves, including 46 by the Hamilton goalie and 30 by Heilbron, and the defenses killed off seven penalties between them.