Hartford, Conn. – The No. 3 Trinity College men's hockey capped a stellar regular season with a 6-0 thumping of Wesleyan in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action on Saturday afternoon inside the Koeppel Community Sports Center on Williams Rink. With their seventh straight victory, the Bantams enter post-season play with a 21-2-1 overall record and an impressive 16-1-1 record in league play, while the Cardinals end the year with a 3-21-0 overall record and 2-16-0 mark in conference tilts.

On senior day, five different Trinity skaters found the back of the net and goaltenders Nathaniel Heilbron (West Vancouver, British Columbia) and Kevin Green (Weymouth, Mass.) combined for a shutout.

The Bantams came out of gates buzzing, scoring four goals and outshooting Wesleyan, 28-4, in the opening period. Just over a minute into play, first-year forward Tyler Whitney (Wakefield, Mass.) took a pass from linemate Michael Hawkrigg (Toronto, Ontario) and went coast-to-coast for his 11th marker of the season. Whitney's initial shot on a breakaway was stopped by Carindals starting goaltender Dawson Sprigings, but he fired the rebound into the back of the net.

Midway through the stanza, sophomore Ryan Cole (Anchorage, Alaska) stretch the Trinity lead to two with his team-leading 14th tally of the winter. Cole corralled a pass from first-year Anthony Sabitsky and fired a shot that beat Sprigings. Five minutes after Cole's goal, Sabitsky potted a wrister to give the hosts a three-goal edge. With 10 seconds remaining in the first period, the Bantams had an odd-man rush and after big save by Sprigings on slap shot from Michael Flynn (Cheshire, Conn.), senior Liam McKillop (New York, N.Y.) jammed home the loose puck with just one second left on the clock.

In the second period, Hawkrigg put the game out of reach with a pair of tallies. His first came just over 90 seconds into play as he stole the puck behind the net and scored on a backhand. Twelve minutes later, he capped the scoring for the period and the game.

Between the pipes, Heilbron made four saves in the first period to earn his 16th win of the year and Green stopped 15 shots in 40 minutes of relief for the Bantams. On the other end, Sprigings turned aside 36 shots in two periods of work and Daniel Weiss stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third.

Offensively, Sabitsky and Cole each had a goal and assist for the Bantams and Hawkrigg scored a pair to go along with a helper in the first period.

Trinity returns to action next weekend, Feb. 28, welcoming in Tufts in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Championship Tournament. For the second straight year, the Bantams earned the No. 1 seed in the conference tourney.

Box Score