Middletown, Conn. - The visiting Trinity College Bantams, ranked
No. 1 in the nation but No. 1 in the NCAA Division III East Region,
built a 6-2 lead in the second period and survived a Wesleyan
Cardinal rally for an 8-5 New England Small College Athletic
Conference (NESCAC) men's ice hockey victory. With the win in
the regular-season finale for both teams, the Bantams secure the
top seed in the upcoming NESCAC tournament and will have home ice
throughout the playoffs. Wesleyan, currently eighth in the
standings, needs Hamilton, currently ninth, to pick up no more than
two points from its final two games at Williams and Middlebury
tonight and tomorrow to lock up the final spot in the
tournament. Should they qualify, Wesleyan will be at
Trinity for the opening round Saturday, March 1.
Trinity junior forward Jackson Brewer
(Newton, Mass.), the leading scorer in the NESCAC, was a set-up man
throughout the afternoon, dishing out five assists for Trinity to
up his point total for the season to 50 on 14 goals and 36 assists.
Sophomore forward Michael Hawkrigg
(Toronto, Ontario), second in the league in scoring, added two
goals and two assists to his totals which now stand at 20 goals and
26 assists for 46 points. Wesleyan got a goal and two assists
form senior Keith Buehler, ranking him second on the Cardinals in
scoring with a team-leading 13 goals and 12 assists for 25 points.
Just ahead of him with a goal on the day is freshman Elliott
Vorel with 13-13-26. Wesleyan also got a pair of goals from
sophomore Jay Matthews, giving him 9-7-16. Wesleyan generated
a 41-31 edge in total shots. Senior Ben Coulthard
(South Windsor, Conn.) made 36 saves for Trinity while sophomore
Nolan Daley made 23 stops.
Trinity's power play, which came into the game connecting at a
solid 28 percent on the year, was ultra-efficient, converting on
each of the first four Wesleyan penalties, one in the first period,
two in the second and one in the third. The only failed power
play came as Wesleyan was whistled down with just nine seconds left
in the contest. Four different Bantams converted with the
extra man as freshman forward Sean Orlando (Ivyland,
Pa.) at 16:25 of the first, freshman forward Ryan Cole (Anchorage,
Alaska) at 12:12 of the second, Hawkrigg at 17:31 of the second and
junior captain defenseman Michael Flynn
(Cheshire, Conn.) at 18:04 of the third all put one home with a
man-advantage. Wesleyan was sharp on the power play as well,
scoring on three of six tries with Buehler, Vorel and Matthews all
turning the trick. Trinity's final goal at 18:21 of the third
came into an empty net with sophomore Ben Hjalmarsson
(Lidingo, Sweden) netting his second of the contest and fourth of
the year.
Trinity took the lead for good, 2-1, at 16:25 of the first on
Orlando's power-play goal during a pile-up in front of Daley.
Trinity made it 3-1 in the opening minute of the second
period and pushed the advantage to 6-2 late in the frame.
Wesleyan ended the period with a goal at 18:56, then scored
two power-play goals to begin the third period, narrowing the gap
to 6-5 with 14:34 to play. It stayed that way until Flynn
pushed the difference to 7-5, followed by the empty-netter.
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