Schedule for championship weekend

Here’s a link to the official schedule for next weekend’s games (all games will take place at Amherst’s Orr Arena; note: Amherst has apparently elected the later starting time (4PM) for the semifinals although that will mean a few less hours of recovery time between the semifinals and the finals for the winning team):

Saturday (March 3) semifinals:

1PM: No. 2 Bowdoin v no. 3 Middlebury

4PM: No. 1 Amherst v no. 5 Williams

Sunday (March 4) finals:

2PM: teams to be determined

Feb 25, 2012, results (NESCAC quarterfinals)

Nerves wracked in the NESCAC for all concerned in the afternoon games although the games proceed according to form:

Middlebury 2 Wesleyan 1 (Middlebury advances to the NESCAC semifinals and the rubber match with Bowdoin at Amherst; the game is scoreless until there about three minutes left in the second period when Tom Cantwell cracks the ice for Middlebury; Jamie Albrecht gets the tying goal for Wesleyan at about the 11 minute mark of the third period but Chris Steele comes back to get the go-ahead goal for Middlebury with about three minutes to go in the 3rd; Middlebury controls the game territorially as it often does on its big sheet, out shooting Wesleyan by 29-12; Glenn Stowell takes the loss in net for Wesleyan but has a good game, stopping 27 of 29 shots; Dan Fullam gets the win in net for Middlebury but is not tested that much (turning away 11 of 12 shots); this was the last game of their college careers for Wesleyan seniors Tom Salah and Geoff Mucha, who saw major advances in Wesleyan’s hockey program during their 4-year careers)

Bowdoin 2 Trinity 1 (link to a good write up of the game from the Maine Hockey Journal, with quotes from Bowdoin Coach Terry Meagher about the game; Bowdoin advances to the NESCAC semifinals next weekend where it will face off with Middlebury in search of its first-ever play-off win over Middlebury; no. 7 Trinity makes for a tight, nerve-wracking game for the Bowdoin faithful by scoring very early on Steve Messina (a Joe Tierney goal just 1:54 into the game) but Messina is untouchable for the rest of the game; the Polar Bears get the tying goal on a Rob MacGregor goal with about five minutes to go in the first and then the game winner in the second period on a Graham Sisson PP goal; Bowdoin out shoots Trinity by a small margin, 38-32; both Steve Messina for Bowdoin and Ben Coulthard for Trinity have great games in net; this was the last college hockey game for Trinity seniors Joe Tierney, Mike DeMayo, and Sean McCarthy and for injured senior Paul Jaskot)

Williams 4 Tufts 3 (OT)  (no. 5 Williams’ ticket is punched to the semifinals where it must derail the Amherst juggernaut if it wishes to reach the finals; Williams wears Tufts down in OT, with John Wickman  scoring off a scrum in front of Tufts’ netminder, Scott Barchard, with about 6 minutes to go in OT; Tufts runs out of energy in the OT and it became just a matter of time as to when Williams would score the game winner; Tufts scores the first two goals of the game; then Williams scores three consecutive goals to take the lead at 3-2 in the third period; Kyle Gallegos ties it up for Tufts on the PP in the third period, necessitating overtime; each team scores 2 PP goals; Mike Brofft wracks up 3 assists and Craig Kitto registers 2 assists for Williams while Kyle Gallegos scores 2 goals for the Jumbos; Williams out shoots Tufts by 51-44, with Ryan Purdy getting the win and Scott Barchard the loss; this may or may not have been Barchard’s last game for the Jumbos as he has the option of coming back for another season under the NCAA’s medical red shirt rules (at the beginning of the season, it was reported that he would not make that decision until after the season was over; he will likely also have the option of playing professional hockey in Europe next year and could well go that route0; other Tufts seniors who saw their college hockey careers come to an end tonight include Matt Amico, Evan Story, Matt Milley, and back-up netminder Evin Koleini)

Amherst 6  Hamilton 0 (write up of the Hamilton-Amherst game from the Amherst website, noting that this win was Jonathan La Rose’s fifth shut out of the year and that Amherst has not lost a home game this year; no doubt about this one as it was men versus boys as the Jeffs just crushed the over matched Continentals; this game was finished in record time as Amherst just raced through the Hamilton Continentals in their zeal to secure hosting rights for the semifinals and finals next weekend; next up: a match made in heaven — a semi-final game with no. 5 seed and arch rival Williams; Amherst scores 2 goals in each period, throwing in a shortie and a PP goal for good measure;  frosh Mike Cashman and Jake Turrin both have 3-point nights (0-3-3 for Cashman and 1-2-3 for Turrin); Mike Moher and Nick Brunette both have 1-1-2 nights while Ryan Edwards registers 2 assists; there is never a doubt about this game as Amherst out shoots Hamilton by 35-19 as Jonathan La Rose turns aside all 19 shots and notches yet another shut out, including his second of the year agaisnt Hamilton; Joe Quattrocchi gets tagged for the loss; playing their last college hockey game are Same Choate, Bryan Kelly, and Anthony Scarpino, who saw some serious ups during their Hamilton careers with the re-birth of Hamilton hockey under Norm Bazin)

NESCAC Concannon semi-finalists

Five of the 18 Concannon semi-finalists are NESCAC players (the Concannon award goes to the \best US-born D2/3 college hockey player in New England):

Jordan Lalor (D)-Bowdoin

Mike Baran (D)- Amherst

Ryan Purdy (G)-Williams

Mike Doherty (F)-Colby

Nik Tasiopoulos (F)-Wesleyan

NESCAC Quarterfinals!!

The end of the NESCAC season is fast approaching as after this Saturday only four teams will be left standing. All four games will be webcast (video form) at no charge (see below for details).

Tough to do the predictions thing this year given the quarterfinals carnage of last year when three of the four top seeds fell to the visiting team. But this year each of the top three teams finished on a roll, suggesting that all three are well prepared for the play-offs this year. No. 1 Amherst’s (17-1 record for the season) last NESCAC loss occurred on Jan 6 (a 7-4 loss to Bowdoin) while no. 2 Bowdoin has lost only once in the NESCAC since Dec 3 (a 12-1-2 record in that period, with the only loss a 3-1 loss to Amherst on Feb 3) and no. 3 Middlebury closed out the regular season strong on a 5-1-1 run (with the only loss being a 2-1 lost to Amherst in the last regular season game).

Both Amherst and Middlebury displayed airtight defenses in closing out the regular season, with Amherst surrendering a grand total of 13 goals in its last 13 games and Middlebury giving up only 10 goals in its last 7 games. The Bowdoin defense was more porous and less consistent but then again the Bowdoin offense was on fire  (25 goals in the last 4 games).

In contrast, both no. 4 Tufts and no. 5 Williams closed out the season in an unimpressive fashion, with Tufts losing 3 of its last 4 games and doing so by lop-sided scores and Williams winning only 1 of its last 8 games.

Finally, it is worth noting how this season turned out not to be the season of parity. When all was said and done, a 24-point chasm separated no. 1 Amherst (34 points) and its quarterfinal foe, no. 8 Hamilton (10 points). Last year, in contrast, only 9 points separated no. 1 Hamilton (26 points) and no. 8 Wesleyan (17 points). Similarly, 16 points separated no. 1 Amherst (34 points) and no. 5 Williams (18 points) this year. Last year, a mere 3 points separated no. 1 Hamilton and no. 5 Bowdoin.

So no wonder that last year’s first round consisted of a rash of upsets by the lower seeded team. The teams were much more closely matched last season than they are this season. That does not mean that there will be no upsets this year but the disparities among the 8 play-off teams imply the existence of a clear pecking  order within the league. Go to the bottom of this post to see this year’s final standings  and last year’s very different results.

Previews:

Amherst’s preview of the Hamilton-Amherst game

Williams’ preview of the Williams-Tufts game

Preview from Tufts student newspaper of the Williams-Tufts game

No. 6 Wesleyan at no. 3 Middlebury: 4PM (Middebury’s video webcast (should be free since the NESCAC apparently bars webcast fees for play-off games but requires member schools to charge admission fees for in-person attendance-go figure); Middlebury-oriented audio webcast)

No. 7 Trinity at no. 2 Bowdoin: 4PM (Bowdoin’s livestats and video webcast)

No. 5 Williams at no. 4 Tufts: 4:35PM (Tufts’ Jumbocast (video webcast))

No. 8 Hamilton at no. 1 Amherst: 7PM (Amherst’s video webcast)

Amherst prepares for Hamilton

Here’s a link to an excellent article by USCHO’s Tim Costello in which he provides insight as to exactly how Amherst is preparing for this weekend’s quarterfinal match-up with Hamilton. Interesting was how light the Amherst coaches keep the practice sessions as this point in the season (no practice on either Monday or Wednesday of this week) in order to avoid tiring the players out.

Preview of the NESCAC play-offs

The NESCAC website contains a good preview of the first round of the playoffs. The Hamilton at Amherst game is scheduled for 7PM on Saturday while the Trinity at Bowdoin and Wesleyan at Middlebury games are scheduled for 4PM on Saturday. The time for the Williams at Tufts game has now been set and will be at the slightly odd time of 4:35PM. .

Feb 19, 2012, results

Sunday (Feb 19):

Williams 5 Hamilton 1  (on the back of four PP goals, Williams re-discovers the art of the win after five straight losses and ends up in solo possession of fifth place at 8-8-2 (18 points); Hamilton ends up in a tie for eighth place at 4-12-2 (10 points) with Conn College but manages to back into the last spot in the play-offs through the NESCAC’s tie-breaker rules; Williams scores on 4 of 7 opportunities in a very chippy game that includes a 5-minute major against Hamilton goalie Cam Gibbar in the second period; he is replaced by Joe Quattrocchi who plays the rest of the way; Mike Brofft has a 1-2-3 game while Craig Kitto and Mark Lyons both chime in with two points for Williams; Williams boxscore says that the SOGs were 50-40 in favor of Williams but that is likely an inflated number as is the boxscore’s claim that 1000 people attended the game; Ryan Purdy gets the win for Williams but doubtful that he made 39 saves in the game as the boxscore states)

Amherst 2 Middlebury 1 (Amherst finishes the season at 17-1-0 or 34 points; as superb as Amherst’s record is, it is not the best regular season record in NESCAC history; that belongs to Middlebury and its record of 18-0-1 (for the 2001-02 season); Middlebury finishes up at 11-6-1 (23 points) in 3rd place; Amherst does all its scoring in the third period after Middlebury dominates the first two periods, out shooting Amherst by 28-8; Amherst comes to life in the third period when the game is on the line and dominates the period, out shooting Middlebury by 13-3; the game winner is Andrew Kurlandski’s shortie (high on the stick side) with less than six minutes to go in the third period; Middlebury pulls the goalie and gets a PP opportunity in the last 30 seconds but can’t get the puck past Jonathan La Rose for the tying goal; for the game, Middlebury out shoots Amherst by 31-21; Jonathan La Rose is, as usual, superb in net, saving all but one of the 31 shots he faces; Dan Fullam comes up short one more time than La Rose and takes the loss)

NESCAC quarterfinal match-ups set

Tomorrow’s games will not affect the match-ups as, by applying tie-breaker criteria in the two areas places where ties still remain a mathematical possibility (Hamilton and Conn College could tie for 8th place with 4-12-2 records if Hamilton loses to Williams; Wesleyan and Williams could tie for fifth place with 7-9-2 records if Williams loses to Hamilton), we end up with the following match-ups:

No. 8 Hamilton at no. 1 Amherst

No. 7 Trinity at no. 2 Bowdoin

No. 6 Wesleyan at no. 3 Middlebury

No. 5 Williams at no. 4 Tufts

Feb 18, 2012, results

Saturday (Feb 18):

Bowdoin 6 Conn. College 4 (Bowdoin nails down the no. 2 spot with a fine 12-3-3 record (27 points) regardless of what Middlebury does this weekend; Bowdoin will be hosting no. 7 seed Trinity in the NESCAC quarterfinals next weekend; Conn College is out of the play-offs at  4-12-2 (10 points) because Hamilton holds the third tie-breaker as Tufts ends up in the fourth spot (the third tie-breaker is the record against top 4 teams) and the two teams are tied in points, with Hamilton having 1 game in hand; Bowdoin’s fine, all-sophomore line of Ollie Koo, Colin Downey, and Harry Matheson once again dominates the game and is on the ice for 4 of Bowdoin’s 6 goals; Bowdoin jumps out to a 3-1 lead in the first period, only to see Conn College mount a bit of a comeback in the second period and to pull within one goal at 4-3; Bowdoin pushes the lead up to 6-3 in the 3rd period before Conn College adds an extra attacker PP goal very late in the game for the final two-goal margin; Ollie Koo and Harry Matheson both have 1-2-3 games while linemate Colin Downey has a 1-1-2 game; Downey has likely wrapped up the NESCAC scoring title with 27 points as his only remaining challengers are Amherst’s Mike Moher at 19 points and Hamilton’s Mike DiMare at 18 points, who would need 8-point and 9-point weekends respectively to catch Downey; linemate Harry Matheson (along wiht Tufts Kyle Gallegos) is similarly ensconced at the top of the NESCAC goal scoring stats with 14 goals (their nearest remaining contenders, Hamilton’s Mike DiMare and Middlebury’s Charles Nerbak, need 4 goals this weekend to catch Matheson and Gallegos); d-men Jordan Lalor and Tim McGarry also chime in with 1-1-2 games; for Conn College, both Sean Curran (2-0-2) and Julien Boutet (1-1-2) have two-point games, with Boutet netting a shortie; Steve Messina gets the start for Bowdoin for the second day in a row and comes away with the win, saving 21 of 25 shots; Andrew Margolin takes the loss for the Camels, turning away 28 of 33 shots (the sixth Bowdoin goal is an empty netter))

Wesleyan 3 Trinity 1 (Wesleyan ends up in 6th place at 7-9-2 (16 points) and Trinity finishes in 7th place (6-10-2 or 14 points); Wesleyan and Williams could end up in a tie for 5th place if Williams loses to Hamilton tomorrow but Williams holds the tie-breaker over Wesleyan (record against the top four teams); Wesleyan is to face no. 3 Middlebury in the first round of the play-offs while Trinity heads for Maine to face no. 2 Bowdoin next weekend; all scoring happens in the second period; Nik Tasiopoulos gets the  game winner on his 19th goal of the season; Wesleyan dominates the game, out shooting Trinity by 38-24; Nik Tasiopoulos had a two-point game (1-1-2) and, as the no. 2 scorer in the league, is the only non-Bowdoin player among the top point scorers; Trinity starter Ben Coulthard is ejected from the game after 26 minutes for “grasping the facemask” (the same  penalty is assessed against Wesleyan’s Tommy Hartnett at the same time) and replaced by Sam Calahan, who gets the loss while saving 20 of 22 shots; Glenn Stowell gets the win for Wesleyan)

Tufts 3 Colby 2 (Colby’s season ends with the loss as it finishes dead last in 10th place, with a record of 4-13-1 or 9 points; it does not qualify for the NESCAC play-offs for the second time in the 13 years of NESCAC play-offs; Tufts will finish fourth at 9-8-1 (19 points) and host a first-round game; fifth place Williams (7-8-2 (16 points)), which lost to first place Amherst tonight and has run out of opportunities to catch Tufts; Colby makes the game a real contest as it pulls within 1 goal (2-1) on a Nick Lanza goal early in the third period but Kyle Gallegos answers with the game winning goal about 4 minutes later; Colby Co-captain Dan Nelson pulls the Mules to within one (3-2) with 30 seconds to go on an extra attacker goal but the clock runs out on the Mules season;  Tufts’ superb sophomore Kyle Gallegos scores two goals for the Jumbos and played a central role in righting the Tuft’s ship after three very bad losses in a row; frosh Tyler Voigt also has a 2-point game (1-1-2); the game is evenly played as Colby barely out shoots Tufts (36-34); Matt Delaney gets the loss in net for Colby while Scott Barchard finally gets another win after a three-game run of poor goaltending)

Middlebury 2 Hamilton 1 (Middlebury finishes in third place as this game became academic once Bowdoin nailed down the no. 2 spot earlier in the day with its win over Conn College; Middlebury’s record in now 11-5-1 (23 points) and it has the chance to burnish its play-off credentials by taking down no. 1 Amherst tomorrow; Hamilton backs into the play-offs when Tufts clinches the fourth spot, giving eighth place Hamilton the tie-breaker over Conn College (in theory, Hamilton, at 4-11-2 (10 points), can still gain the eighth spot on its own by beating or tying Williams tomorrow; Middlebury jumps out to a 2-0 lead with goals by Darric White in the first period and frosh George Ordway at the 33-second mark of the second period; that’s all Middlebury needs as Hamilton does not dent Middlebury goalie Dan Fullam until a late extra attacker goal; Middlebury dominates the game, out shooting Hamilton by 30-15 and killing off all six Hamilton PPs; Dan Fullam gets the win for Middlebury, truning away all but one of 15 shots; Joe Quattrocchi takes the loss although he plays well blocking 28 of 30 shots)

Amherst 3 Williams 1 (Williams can’t beat no. 1 Amherst and ends up finishing fifth in the league;  Amherst goes to 16-1 on the season, with an astonishing 32 points; Williams has a record of 7-8-2 (16 points) and cannot catch fourth place Tufts even if it wins its game with Hamilton tomorrow; it could fall into a sixth place tie with Wesleyan with a loss to Hamilton tomorrow but it holds the tie-breaker over Wesleyan (record versus the top four teams); it heads to Tufts next weekend for the NESCAC quarterfinals; Williams continue to struggle mightily, losing 5 straight games, scoring only six goals in those five games, and winning only once in the last nine games; perhaps the lack of depth on the Williams roster has really caught up with the Ephs this year; Amherst gets on the score board very early in the first period (at the 28-second mark) and adds another goal later in the period; with Jonathan La Rose in the nets and Amherst’s great team defense those two goals were all the Jeffs needed; Williams finally scores with an extra attacker goal very late in the third period for the final score of 3-1 but by that time, the game is under Amherst’s control; Mark Colp has a two-point night for Amherst (1-1-2) Jonathan La Rose gets the win for Amherst while Ryan Purdy takes another loss for Williams; again, the official shot count seems a little on the high side (43-40 in favor of Williams), especially as the Amherst team defense seemed to keep the Williams’ offense well away form the net)

Feb 17, 2012, results

Friday (Feb 17):

Colby 3 Conn. College 2 (Colby is in tenth place with a 4-12-1 (9 points) but very much in the hunt for the last play-off spot, trailing 8th place holders Conn College (4-11-2 and 10 points) and Hamilton (4-10-2 and 10 points) by a single point; Colby needs some help from perennial foe Bowdoin in knocking Conn College off tomorrow and needs Hamilton to close out the season poorly in its two tough road games this weekend (Middlebury and Williams); and of course Colby must help itself by defeating the collapsing Tufts Jumbos in Malden tomorrow; Colby falls behind in this game, training Conn College by a score of 2-1 after two periods, but rallies with two unanswered goals in the third; senior Mike Doherty gets the game winner has has a two-point night as does frosh Nate Morgan (0-2-2); Conn College out shoots Colby by 36-29. Matt Delaney gets the win for Colby while Mike Petchonka is tagged with the loss for the Camels)

Trinity 5 Wesleyan 2 (Trinity and Wesleyan are now tied for 6th place with identical records of 6-9-2 (14 points) — they go at it again tomorrow at Wesleyan to try to break the deadlock; Wesleyan loses the chance to make a move on the stumbling 4th place Tufts Jumbos, with its record of 8-8-1 (17), and the sagging 5th place Williams Ephmen (7-7-2 (16 points)), and cannot catch either team; Larry Bero scores two goals for Trinity while Will Gray and Michael Flynn both have 1-1-2 nights and the Menard twins each contribute two assists; Trinity takes 1 4-1 lead after two periods, with Wesleyan drawing within two goals in the third period before Will Gray ices the game for Trinity with an empty netter; goalie Ben Coulthard is the difference maker for the Bantams as Wesleyan out shoots Trinity by 36-26 and Coulthard saves 34 of 36 shots; Glenn Stowell gets the start for the Cardinals and saves 22 of 26 shots (the 5th Trinity goal in an empty netter))

Bowdoin 9 Tufts 2 (Bowdoin walks all over Tufts and tightens its grip on second place at 11-3-3 (25 points) and controls its own fate vis-a-vis third place Middlebury at 10-5-1 (21 points); Middlebury hosts Hamilton (desperate for a win to qualify for the play-offs) tomorrow and then faces the NESCAC’s number 1 team, Amherst, on Sunday; it can only catch Bowdoin if the Polar Bears lose to Conn College tomorrow; Tufts clings to fourth place, with a mediocre record of 8-8-1 (17 points) and could get caught by fifth place Williams (7-7-2) and 16 points) but Williams faces the daunting challenge trying to get back on track after a long run of bad games  by beating Amherst tomorrow and then Hamilton on Sunday; Bowdoin’s all-sophomore line of Colin Downey, Ollie Koo and Harry Matheson once again flies all over the ice all night, scoring a total of 5 goals, with Downey having four points (1-3-4), Matheson three (2-1-3) and Koo two (2-0-2); also scoring four points is d-man Jordan Lalor, with 4 assists; frosh Tim Coffey and junior Daniel Weiniger also register 2 points apiece (1-1-2); Bowdoin scores 4 goals in both the first and second periods and adds an extra for good measure late in the third period; Tufts scores both its goals on the PP (with one a 5-3) in the second period; Bowdoin out shoots Tufts by 45-34; Scott Barchard starts in net for the Jumbos and is pulled in the first period after the 4th Bowdoin goal and replaced by Evin Kholeini; Kholeini is replaced by Brian Phillips in the 2nd period after the 8th Bowdoin goal and is the best of the three netminders on this particular night, saving 18 of 19 shots; Steve Messina handles net tending duties  for Bowdoin superbly, saving 32 of 34 shots; Tufts does a good job of getting fans to the game and generating good game atmospherics, busing students to the rink, which is in the nearby town of Malden; Jumbocast’s video webcast is excellent — here’s hoping that Tufts makes webcasts a regular occurrence next year)