HARTFORD, Conn. – The Trinity College Men's Hockey team fell to visiting Curry College, 3-2 in overtime, in a non-conference tilt at the Koeppel Community Sports Center Sunday afternoon. The Bantams move to 4-1-0 overall, while the Colonels improve own a 6-2-1 record.
The Bantams wasted little time cracking the scoreboard as senior Gerrard Marretta pressured the Colonels defense in the Trinity attacking zone, forcing a turnover, and ripped the loose puck through traffic to give the Bantams a 1-0 lead with 16:14 to play in the first period.
In the 16th minute of play, the Colonels evened the score at 1-1 as sophomore Jesse Galassi played a long puck into the Bantams zone, and on an attempted clear, Curry sophomore Taurin Haddon-Harris gloved the puck to his stick and tucked a shot past Trinity sophomore goalie Devon Bobak.
The Bantams regained the lead in the final minute of the first period as junior Richard Boysen dropped a pass at the point to senior Ned Blanchard, who fired a shot on net, where senior Casey Rhodes redirected the puck past Curry senior goaltender Roland Polasek to hand Trinity a 2-1 lead after one period.
With 17:32 to play in the second period, the Colonels found an equalizer as sophomore Gage Dill grabbed a loose puck in traffic and played the puck to senior Tao Ishizuka at the point, who whistled a shot to the back of the net, evening the game at 2-2.
Trinity had a shot to take the lead at the 15:40 mark of the third period as senior Christian Hayes stole a puck in front of the Colonels net, but his close-range attempt was denied by Polasek, maintaining the 2-2 score. The game remained tied through the third period, leading to an overtime period.
Just over one minute into overtime, the Colonel made a break into the Bantams zone, where senior George Vonakis placed a shot on net that ricocheted off the stick of sophomore Nicolas Lariviere and past Bobak, sending Curry to the 3-2 win.
"Curry is really good and I thought we played well in spurts," said Trinity Head Coach Matthew Greason. "The penalties we took in the third period we're unacceptable and undiscipline, and if we want to win hockey games against good teams, we can't do that. I'm really disappointed in us for the way we handled a tight game, every important game is going to be a tight game, and we need to be better and more discipline. Hopefully, we'll learn from it."
The teams were even in the shot column at 21 shots apiece, while Trinity won the faceoff battle, 36-27, during the game. Bobak made 18 saves for the Bantams, while Polasek stopped 19 shots for the Colonels.
The Bantams will look to return to the win column when they host Hamilton in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) game Friday night. Puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
TRINITY ATHLETICS
