MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - First-year defenseman Brandon Cimino () gave the visiting Trinity College Bantams a 1-0 lead late in the first period, but the Wesleyan University Cardinals once in each of the next two frames and came away with a 2-1 victory in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's ice hockey regular season finale this afternoon.  Trinity, ranked No. 14 in the nation, closed out its regular campaign at 16-7-1 1 and Wesleyan finishes at 15-6-3.  The Bantams will be the No. 2 seed in the NESCAC Championship Tournament which starts next weekend, and will host Bowdoin College in the quarterfinals on Saturday.  Wesleyan earns the top seed and will play its quarterfinal game at home against Williams.

The early going featured high energy and physical play and after eight minutes of back-and forth play the two teams traded power play chances. Wesleyan had the man-up situation first, however it was Trinity who had the best opportunity of those two minutes with junior Kyle Tomaso (Newport, R.I.) intercepting the puck at Wesleyan's blue line and going one-on-one with Erik Voloshin who stopped the shot with his pad. Trinity managed two shots on net during their power play chance but both were turned away.

Trinity snuck one in with 3:22 remaining in the first period. Junior defenseman John Campomenosi (Wayne, N.J.) circled around the back of the net and delivered a centering pass into the slot that found rookie blue liner Brandon Cimino (New Rochelle, N.Y.) who had his shot scurry past Voloshin for the first goal of the contest. The Bantams reeled off five more shots on goal over the course of the final two and a half minutes of the 1^st, but the game remained 1-0 at the end of the first.

The Bantams came out hungry for the equalizer, getting shot after shot on net over the first few minutes of the second period. Wesleyan only managed two shots in that same time, but their third found the back of the net to even the score at one at the 5:17 mark. D.J Dixon deflected a clearance attempt by the Bantam defense that was then gathered by Owen Sweet who sent the puck back to Dixon for the one-timer.  Trinity opened the final stanza with a Riley Prattson (Tolland, Conn.) shot that rang off the post, but Sweet scored the clincher with a backhand moments later.

The Bantams unloaded handfuls of shots towards Voloshin over the final 10 minutes. The teams played 4x4 with no scoring for two minutes late before Trinity pulled first-year goaltender Devon Bobak (Northwood, Ohio) following both the players returning to the ice. Playing 6x5, the Bantams pummeled the Cardinal defense witb even more shots but could not push one through.  Wesleyan was outshot by the Bantams 31-25. Voloshin made 30 saves and Bobak had 24.