HARTFORD, Conn. – The Trinity College men's ice hockey team was edged by Amherst College, 3-2 on Friday night in the Koeppel Community Sports Center. The Bantams shift to 3-2 on the year with a 1-2 mark in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play while Amherst improves to 2-3 (1-1 NESCAC). Trinity hosts Hamilton College tomorrow at 4 p.m. The Mammoths play their next contest at 3 p.m. on the same day at Wesleyan University. 
 
Four out of the game's five goals came on power-plays with a total of 13 combined man-up situations amongst the two teams. Amherst scored first on a 4-on-3 when Pieter von Steinbergs fed the puck across ice to the opposite circle where Matt Toporowski fired the one-timer to the top-shelf with 8:43 to go in the first period. 
 
The Bantams quickly answered on their own power-play just over one minute later when Sophomore Kyle Tomaso sent the puck across ice to classmate Gerard Maretta who was then able to locate sophomore Jax Murray down low who snuck past the diving goaltender for the point-blank goal. 
 
The only even-strength goal of the night came with 11:15 to go in the second frame when Matteo Mangiardi gave Amherst the 2-1 lead on an unassisted goal. The Mammoths then went up 3-1 on a power-play goal from Joey Verkerke who was helped by Toporowski and Mitchell Shults. Murray netted his second goal of the night and the second for the Bantams with just under one-minute remaining before the second intermission. Maretta and Tamaso each earned their second assists of the night on the play. 
 
In the final minutes of a scoreless third period, Trinity had its sixth power-play of the night but failed to tally the equalizer and concluded the game with an empty net, pulling first-year Patrick Pugliese to create a 6-on-5 in the game's final seconds. Murray now leads the Bantams in scoring with four goals and seven total points on the year. Pugliese registered 21 saves on the night while Amherst's Alex Wisco collected 25 of his own.