Shannon Welch/Photo Editor
While most of the Wesleyan community was home during break pounding Sam Adams with their uncles, the Wesleyan men’s hockey team was pounding opponents throughout the NESCAC.
Despite an unimpressive 5-4-1 record during break, the team outscored its opponents 40-29 over those ten games.
Highlights of the break included handing Bowdoin College its only loss in 18 games this year, a 7-2 thrashing of Connecticut College, and an 11-2 manhandling of Hamilton College.
The Wesleyan team got started after its shortened winter break at the Cardinal Classic at SUNY Plattsburgh with a game against the host school. Plattsburgh made it to the NCAA national quarterfinals last year, and it showed against the outmatched Wesleyan team.
Plattsburgh scored in each period, while Wesleyan added just one goal in the second.
In the third-place game of that tournament, Wesleyan found its rhythm again against Elmira College, beating them 5-2 in their last non-conference game of the year. Goalie Nolan Daley ’16 earned his second victory of the year for the Cardinals, stopping 24 of the 26 shots he faced. Keith Buehler ’14 had two goals in that game, while John Guay ’13 and Donald Kleckner ’13 each added a goal and an assist.
The Cardinals then lost two straight against Middlebury and Williams. The first game was a 4-3 home loss to the Panthers, in which Middlebury managed a whopping 37 shots on Daley. Buehler earned his first career hat trick in that game, his 11th straight in which he scored a point, a streak that ended in Wesleyan’s 2-1 home loss to the Ephs of Williams.
The Cardinals bounced back in their next game against the top-ranked Bowdoin Polar Bears, a 6-5 overtime victory against their previously undefeated opponents. Bowdoin hadn’t lost at home since 2011 and was the only undefeated team remaining in Division III in the nation. After his scoreless afternoon against Williams, Buehler bounced back with his second hat trick in three games and also added three assists, which helped him earn NESCAC Player of the Week honors, the first such award given to a Cardinal this season. Down 2-0, Wesleyan had 11 unanswered shots to open the second period, but then fell behind 3-0 just seven minutes in on Bowdoin’s first shot of the period.
Wesleyan climbed back in with strong special teams play, scoring on four of their next five power plays, while not allowing a power play goal in the contest. After tying the game at four and once again falling behind 5-4, Buehler found Tommy Hartnett ’14 from the right side for his seventh goal of the year with just 24 seconds remaining and an empty net behind them, benefiting greatly from the extra attacker.
The game went into overtime tied 5-5. An evenly matched overtime was finally broken with 50 seconds to go when, once again, Buehler took the puck behind the net and was able to beat Bowdoin goalie Steve Messina with a wraparound shot, orchestrating the emotional Cardinal victory. Nick Craven ’13 assisted Buehler on the final goal, one of his four assists on the afternoon. Daley stopped all four shots he faced in the extra period.
Wesleyan put together another come-from-behind victory the following day, Saturday, Jan. 12, after driving from Bowdoin up to Colby College the night before. Colby scored halfway through the first period and had an impressive 14-shot onslaught against goalie Glenn Stowell ’13 in the second period, but Stowell stopped every shot. Adam Kaiser ’13 tied the game 59 seconds into the third period, and Craven scored the winning goal eight minutes later. Jaren Taenaka ’16 added an insurance goal late in the third period, and Wesleyan won their second game in as many nights, 3-1.
Six nights later, Wesleyan beat Connecticut College 7-2, with six players adding at least two points, and Stowell stopped 14 of the 16 shots he faced. The only negative that emerged from this game was Wesleyan’s penalty kill, which allowed two goals and killed just one power play. The following day, Saturday, Jan. 19, Wesleyan was brought back to earth with a 2-2 tie against the hapless Tufts Jumbos. Tufts had gone just 1-7-1 in NESCAC play prior to this game. Craven scored both goals in that game.
Last Friday, in their first game since students officially arrived back on campus, the Cardinals fell at home to Amherst by a score of 3-1. Once again, their penalty kill was exposed, allowing two goals in four power plays. Amherst goalie Nathan Corey needed just 20 saves to stop the Cardinals, while Stowell turned away just 15 of 18 shots.
On Saturday, though, Wesleyan rebounded with an offensive outburst for the ages. Leading 3-2 after a Hamilton goal 17 seconds into the second period, the Cardinals scored four times in nine minutes during one stretch in the second period. They then had another run in the third in which they scored three times in eight minutes. Two of those goals came on a boarding penalty that resulted in a game misconduct and disqualification for Hamilton freshman Robbyie Gardiner. Wesleyan kept its cool, despite the play that led to a suspension for Gardiner, and had just 10 penalty minutes to Hamilton’s 34. Buehler scored his third hat trick of the season, putting him second nationally in goals with 16, and added an assist. Craven added a goal and three assists as well, placing him one point ahead of Buehler for the NESCAC lead in points with 31; he is also first in the NESCAC in assists with 18. Kaiser also scored two goals and had three assists, while Ryan White ’13 added three assists. This marked the first time since 1987 that Wesleyan scored at least ten goals in a conference game.
Wesleyan has done a phenomenal job offensively, having carried out the most potent attack in the conference behind only Bowdoin, ranked third nationally. The Cardinals are second in scoring, with 4.00 goals per game, and first in power play, converting 28 percent of the time. Another huge factor in their success is on-ice discipline. After having more penalty minutes than any other team in the conference last year, Wesleyan has the second-fewest this season, averaging just 9.2 per game.
With six games remaining in the regular season, and five of those against teams ranked in the top four in the conference, sixth-place Wesleyan has the opportunity to do plenty of leapfrogging over the next two weeks. Wins in four of those tough games would likely mean a home playoff match for Wesleyan, which would be the first in the team’s history. The team starts this critical stretch off Friday, Feb. 1 at fourth-place Middlebury, and continues it Saturday, Feb. 2 against second-place Williams.