Re: Nescac 2011-2012
You have to love the NESCAC this time of year. Just when you think you have it all figured out you are forced to understand that is not true. I remember someone saying "smart girls can't play hockey" (and strangely she was a smart girl who did play hockey) and not withstanding the NESCAC success accumulating DIII hockey championships, what I think she meant was smart girls play inscrutable, unpredictable hockey. Looking at the stats and trends going into last evening's matchup at Orr I was naively dismissing Trinity's chances. I was up at Watson and witnessed their lost weekend against the Polar Bears; Amherst was sitting atop the NESCAC, leading in a number of statistical categories (including penalty kill%); it is Senior Weekend for Amherst, former players and parents all over the place, however I guess nobody told the Bantams. Trinity beat Amherst and it was not one of those flukey, get outshot and your goalie stands on her head kind of upsets: they played the USCHO poll's #3 team and won, period. The Lord Jeffs had their chances, but went 0-4 on the powerplay in the 1st and trailed 2-0 at the end of the period. Trinity scored just as they had killed a penalty. Colman-McGaw grabbed a puck, and rather than dump it and get off ice, she lugged it through center and broke in something like 1x4, down the left wing, kept her edge in muscling around a D and got off a backhand from the low edge of the left circle beating Russell 5 hole. The Bantams then cashed in their lone powerplay chance of the 1st a moment later. Glynn fed the puck to Sword on the right point just inside the blueline and her drive was deftly deflected into the upper corner of the net by Bauer who was parked at the top of the crease. Amherst was fighting to comeback and making plays in the Trinity zone as the period ended, including a Salerno drive off the stickside post, but the Lord Jeffs were not connecting. The Bantams play deserves a lot of credit for that; they were physical and getting into Amherst's hands, not giving them space to create and effectively screening off shooting lanes. Play during the 2nd was back and forth. Amherst fianlly broke through when Lloyd fired a shot on net from just inside the blueline; Fisher dug the rebound to Doyen low at the bottom of the right circle and she got the puck to the top of the crease where Vitale nailed it home. The score held at 2-1 deep into the 3rd. The Lord Jeffs evened the score at 2 on a powerplay goal. Salmon worked the puck off the right wing half boards back to Salerno; her drive was tipped from the top of the crease by Flom and was in to Pujol's stickside. The Bantams were not fading away quietly and stunned the crowd with a powerplay goal of their own. Sword fed Bauer who got into the Amherst zone and with an open look from right point beat Russell with a rocket up stickside. The Lord Jeffs did get the extra atacker on for :50 but were unable to get the puck to the net and force OT.
Rematch this afternoon at 3.
So, is it time to make reservations at the Middlebury Inn for 3/3? It looks that way. Middlebury finishes regular season NESCAC play this afternoon hosting Williams and a Panther win puts them at 14-2. The Lord Jeffs need to beat Trinity and then would need 2 wins in Watson next weekend to finish 14-2. Amherst must hope for Hamilton to get hot and win out to get to 8-8, combined with Trinity losing 3 straight (Amherst and a home and home with the upstart Wesleyan Cardinals) to finish 7-9. The NESCAC tie breaker goes to record against the 3rd palce conference finisher, which in this scenario is Hamilton; Amherst is 2-0 against Hamilton, while the Continentals beat Middlebury.
Lots of hockey left, so get out and watch those seniors one more time!
