With just one weekend left in the regular season, the Wesleyan men’s hockey team still controls its right to host a NESCAC playoff game. The Cards are currently in a three-way tie for 2nd place in the conference, just one point behind the leader, Bowdoin, and one point ahead of the 5th place team, Middlebury. The team is 7-1-1 at home this season and, fortunately, both games this weekend are in the Spurrier-Snyder Rink.

On Friday night, the Cards will skate against a solid ECAC-East squad, Skidmore College, who is currently 14-7-2 overall. The Thoroughbreds are an extremely balanced offensive team, boasting nine players with over 10 points this season. This will be the 15th meeting between the two teams, with Skidmore currently leading the series 7-6-1. Last season, the two squads faced each other and Wesleyan dominated Skidmore 5-2.

The team will finish its regular season schedule on Saturday afternoon, hosting Castleton State, an ECAC-East powerhouse. Coming into this weekend, the Spartans boast an impressive 15-5-3 record. The Spartans have the highest scoring offense in the ECAC, scoring 4.48 goals per game, and have 11 players with over 10 points this season. Last year, the Cards handled Castleton 7-1, and they are hoping for similar results this weekend. But the Spartans were 4-17-3 going into the game last season, and this years contest should be much more hotly contested.

For Wesleyan to be successful this weekend, it needs a strong showing from its first line of forwards. Will Bennett ’07 is currently second in the NESCAC in points with 33, having scored 10 goals and distributing 23 assists. His assist total currently has him tied for 1st in the conference. Freshman David Layne ’10, a candidate for NESCAC rookie of the year, is 4th in the league in goals scored with 12, and 2nd in the league with nine power play goals. Layne leads all NESCAC frosh with 24 points, eight more than the next player. Rounding out the line, J.J. Evans has had a solid sophomore campaign with six goals and seven assists.

Defensively, the Cards are led by sophomore goaltender Mike Palladino, who remains the NESCAC leader in goals against average, allowing just 2.09 goals per game. He is currently second in the conference in save percentage, having stopped .921 percent of the shots he faces. If the Cards are able to limit careless mistakes and penalties on the defensive end and play as well offensively as they have for much of the season, they shouldn’t have a problem securing a home NESCAC playoff game for the first time in team history.