With the season winding down and a trip to the NESCAC postseason tournament on the line, the men’s hockey team has gone undefeated in its past three NESCAC games with two key wins over Tufts and Connecticut College and a tie against Trinity.

The Cards began their strong play after goaltender Dave Scardella ’07 took over as starter in a game against the Bantams that followed the team’s loss to Middlebury two weeks ago. After a scoreless first period, Kevin Armstrong ’08 opened up the scoring early in the second on an assist from J.J. Evans ’09. Unfortunately, a Scott Burns ’09 elbowing penalty late in the period gave Trinity a power play opportunity, on which it scored its first goal. Daniel Maturi of Trinity, assisted by Chris Powers and Rico Murtha, tied the game at one, and the score held up until the end of the first period.

Trinity jumped ahead of the Cardinals midway through the final period on a goal by Murtha with assists from Simon Dionne and Ryan Masucci. Third-year coach Chris Potter took a timeout with 3:33 left in the game to calm his team down and discuss strategies to tie the game. Ryan Hendrickson ’07 scored the tying goal on an assist from Taylor Evans ’07 just 28 seconds after the timeout. Another Wesleyan penalty late in the period gave the Bantams a golden opportunity to take the lead. However, Scardella and the Wesleyan defense held their ground and Trinity did not score for the remainder of the game and overtime. The game ended in a 2-2 tie.

“Our team defense has been great all year, and lately our offense has been able to capitalize on its chances,” said Scardella. “The entire team has been playing well, so hopefully we’ll be able to pick up enough points to make the playoffs.”

Even without the victory, the Cards headed into their match against the Jumbos the following Friday with booming confidence. Wesleyan took command of this game right off the opening whistle. Just five minutes into the first period, Will Bennett ’07 gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead on a goal assisted by Taylor Evans ’07 and Hendrickson. For the remainder of the first period, Wesleyan played a man down after three penalties. Despite the Jumbos’ third ranked scoring percentage in the NESCAC during power plays, Scardella and the Cardinal defense held Tufts scoreless after all three penalties in the first period.

Brian Erensen ’08 scored the next goal of the game for Wesleyan, assisted by Jarred Gagnon ’07 and Derek Davidson ’08. An elbowing penalty late in the period gave Tufts another power play. This time they were successful, as the Jumbos’ Matt McCarthy ’06 scored his 16th goal of the season. The second period ended with Wesleyan clinging to a one-goal lead.

The score stayed the same until J.J. Evans ’09 scored on the power play with assists from Bennett and Scott Burns ’09. Taylor Evans added a goal later in the period to increase the lead, and the Cards ended up on top by a score of 4-2.

The following night, the Cardinals traveled to Connecticut College to try to gain another conference victory, and they did not disappoint. Just 25 seconds into the game, Hendrickson opened up the scoring with assists from Bennett and Evans. The Cards dominated the game for the full sixty minutes, as the Cardinal lead was extended to 2-0 early in the second period on John Wierzba’s ’09 first collegiate goal.

Despite a goal by the Brian Gallagher, the Camels were unable to penetrate the stifling Wesleyan defense the rest of the way. Scardella made nine saves in the final period to preserve the team’s lead. Wierzba and Armstrong added two more goals to cap a 4-1 victory.

During his last 225 minutes of play across a four game span, goaltender Scardella has made 118 saves while giving up only five goals.

“Dave Scardella was robbed of NESCAC Player of the week honors,” said Will Bennett ’07. “The defense and goaltending have been excellent all year. We have struggled to score. However, the offense has woken up, and we plan to surprise our remaining opponents and secure a playoff spot.”

Wesleyan is presently two points behind Tufts and Trinity for the eighth and final spot in the NESCAC tournament. The Cards would host a tiebreaker against Tufts with their head-to-head win, but Trinity holds the tiebreaker over Wesleyan. To make the postseason, the Cardinals will most likely need to win their final two NESCAC games, both against stiff competition. The Cards will host Colby College (9-6 NESCAC) Friday night at 7 p.m. and welcome Bowdoin College (8-5-2 NESCAC) at 3 p.m. the following day.