In its first game of the 2022-23 season, Wesleyan men’s ice hockey beat Conn. College in a 3–0 shutout victory. Since then, there has been no stopping the Red and Black. Even when repeatedly faced with stiff competition, the Cardinals have proven time and time again they are a team to watch out for.

After a full month off from competition, the Cardinals were more than ready to prove that their time off the ice did nothing to hinder their excellent progress.

“It’s definitely challenging when you have a month off in between games,” captain Jake Lachance ’23 said. “So it was really important we didn’t come out slow the first game back.” 

With that determined spirit in mind, on Friday, Jan. 6, the Cards headed up to Vermont to take on Middlebury for their first game of the new year. Wesleyan got off to a strong start, with DJ Dixon ’24 and captain Emmet Powell ’23 scoring the sole goals of the first period. The Panthers responded with two goals of their own in the second, bringing the score up to a tie of 2–2. But the Cards were unphased by the mounting pressure and scored four unanswered goals to bring the final score to 6–2. The victory was a true team effort, with 13 Cardinals registering at least one point, and the win also featured a stellar performance by goalie Erik Voloshin ’24, who registered a career-high 41 saves.

Go Uemura ’23 noted the game was an important moment of inspiration for the team.

“We really started to figure out that we had so much depth in our team and a lot of guys contributing offensively and defensively,” Uemura said. “And throughout our season, that’s been our biggest asset. This was a really important game in showing what our identity could be for the rest of the season.”

The Cards followed this up the next day with a hard-fought battle against Williams. The two teams traded goals throughout the game, with Wesleyan taking the lead three separate times, once in each period, with two goals by Lachance and one by captain Wiggle Kerbrat ’23. But the Ephs managed to tie the game by the end of the third, and after a scoreless overtime period, the game ended in a 3–3 tie.

Powell explained that tying against the Ephs, who were then in the midst of a five-game losing streak, taught the team a major lesson to carry with them going forward.

“This game served as a little bit of a wake-up call to us,” Powell said. “If we don’t come out and play with urgency, then we’re definitely capable of tying a bottom team in the standings.”

Undeterred, the Cards bounced back with a 5–2 non-conference victory over Anna Maria College on Tuesday, Jan. 10. 

The Red and Black then faced Bowdoin at home on Friday, Jan. 13. The Polar Bears started off hot with back-to-back goals at the end of the first period. But less than a minute later, Colin Cobb ’23 scored the first Cardinal goal of the game on a power play.

Lachance underscored the team’s ability to remain confident and unflustered, even while Bowdoin took an early lead, as a crucial part, mentioning how this influenced the Cards’ response in the rest of the game. 

“I thought we were doing a lot of things right, and a couple of bounces [just] didn’t go our way,” Lachance said. “So you don’t want to panic. We just wanted to keep playing our game because if you take too many risks, you’re gonna find yourself down three, four [points].”

The second period saw the Cardinals score three unanswered goals, by Lachance, Daniel Lurie ’26, and Parker Sondag ’26. The third period opened with another Wesleyan goal, by Owen Sweet ’25, less than a minute in before the Polar Bears scored another goal to make the final score 5–3 in the Cardinals’ favor.

Wesleyan then faced Colby on Saturday, Jan. 14. The Mules opened the game with two goals but then saw their progress stall as Jack Marottolo ’26 scored his first career goal to narrow Colby’s lead. The Mules added another goal halfway through the third period, but the Cardinals responded with a goal by Lachance and another by Liam Donelan ’23 less than 30 seconds later. In overtime, both teams failed to find the back of the net and the game ended in a 3–3 OT tie.

Even though it wasn’t a win, the Cardinals still chose to reflect positively on the experience in a mindset that has proven highly beneficial for the team in the face of stiff competition.

“At the end of the day, we’re always happy to get some points against a really tough team,” Marc Smith ’24 said. “That’s the most important thing in this league because even towards the end of the year, there can be so much swing in the standings.”

For his stellar performances against Anna Maria, Bowdoin, and Colby, in which he earned six points in three games, Lachance won his first NESCAC Player of the Week honor.

The next week opened with a stellar 5–0 non-conference victory over Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday, Jan. 17, which featured an excellent performance by Nate Romanelli ’23 in goal as he totaled 28 saves in his first-ever career shutout.

The weekend featured back-to-back wins against Conn. College and Tufts, both of whom were ranked at the bottom of the conference standings, but Uemura explained that the Cards knew this did not mean the games would be easy victories. 

“Conn. and Tufts [are] at the bottom of the standings looking to take anything,” Uemura said. “So we have much more to lose than them, which is a little scary because they’re really desperate and you can see that hunger from those teams.”

On Friday, Jan. 20, the Cards beat the Camels 2–1 with goals by Henry Carlson ’25 and Donelan. The next day, the Red and Black faced off against the Jumbos in a thrilling matchup. Sweet netted the sole goal for the first period as goalie Smith turned away all 12 of the Jumbos’ shots. The second period was action-packed, starting with Kerbrat scoring the first goal of the period, to which Tufts responded 40 seconds later with their first goal of the game. Uemura then responded with a goal assisted by Kerbrat, with whom he shares a special handshake before each game. The Jumbos added another goal, making the score 3–2 to close out the period.

The third period opened with a goal by Andrew Pratt ’23, which extended the Cardinals’ lead. But the Jumbos continued to apply pressure and netted back-to-back goals to tie up the score to 4–4 with 10 minutes remaining. Faced with mounting pressure, the Cardinals remained resilient, and Kerbrat sent the puck to the back of the net off a pass from Uemura to win the game 5–4.

On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the Cardinals finally saw their eight-game unbeaten streak snapped as they were defeated 3–4 by Albertus Magnus College. This defeat marked the first and, as of now, only time Cardinals have suffered a loss in regulation during the 2022-23 season. Wesleyan was the last team in the country in both Division III and Division I to lose a game in regulation this season.

That weekend, the Cardinals faced more frustrating results. On Friday, they played Amherst at home, looking to avenge the 2–3 OT loss they suffered against the Mammoths in their previous matchup on Dec. 2. The first two periods were scoreless, and the Mammoths netted the first goal of the game seven minutes into the third. However, the Cards responded swiftly less than a minute later, with a Cobb goal on a power play to tie the score. The game then went into overtime, and in only 37 seconds, the Mammoths managed a goal to clinch the 2–1 OT victory.

The next afternoon, Wesleyan took on Hamilton in a matchup that proved to be equally tense. The Continentals snagged the first goal of the game late in the first, and after a scoreless second period, Danny Judge ’26 netted an equalizer for the first goal of his career. For the second game in a row, the Cardinals found themselves facing a three-on-three overtime, and once again, in less than a minute, the Continentals netted a goal to win the game 2–1 OT. 

However, even in the face of frustrating adversity, the Cards remained confident in their ability to do better going forward and knew that the week’s disappointing outcome did not permanently alter the team’s trajectory.

“You play two good games against good teams and feel like you probably should have gotten more than two points on the weekend,” Sweet said. “So obviously, that was disappointing. But at the end of the day, we’ll take our two points and move on. I think that’s the attitude you need to have, especially in a season that moves so quickly, and the next game is the most important game.”

Ready to shake off the previous weekend’s results, the Red and Black prepared for another weekend of home games, starting with Middlebury on Friday, Feb. 3. The Panthers struck first with a goal less than a minute into the game, but the Cardinals reacted quickly with a goal by Sweet two minutes later, which gave the team some much-needed momentum for the rest of the game. 

“We got scored on 40 seconds in, so being able to come out for the next shift and tie it back up was huge for us,” Sweet said. “If you get scored on earlier in the period and let that sit, it becomes more of an issue. Being able to score two minutes later and being right back in the game, the floodgates opened for us. So I think that was good for our team’s confidence.”

This was followed by three more Wesleyan goals from Dixon, Ethan Davidson ’26, and Kerbrat to bring the score to 4–1 by the start of the third period. The Panthers then netted another goal of their own but were unable to find the back of the net again, and with a lead-extending goal from Mike Dunderdale ’23, the Cardinals earned a decisive 5–2 victory.

Fueled by their stellar performance the previous night, the Cards came into the next day’s matchup determined to keep their momentum going as they faced Williams, ready for a rematch. The explosive first period began with a goal by Davidson. Ten minutes later, Williams scored an equalizer. But only one minute later, Sweet scored on a breakaway to put Wesleyan back in the lead. Then, in what was easily the most electrifying moment of the game, only 11 seconds later, Kerbrat scored to extend the Cardinals’ lead to 3–1 at the end of the first period. 

Neither side’s shooting efforts were very successful in the second period, with the sole goal coming from Judge, who shot the puck to the upper corner of the net and brought the score up to 4–1. The Ephs managed to narrow the Cardinals’ lead to 4–2 halfway through the third period and continued to apply pressure during the remaining time, pulling their goalie for the last two and a half minutes of the game, but they were unable to get another one past Smith, who put up yet another exceptional performance in goal, yielding a truly thrilling victory for the Cards.

Powell attributes the team’s ability to bounce back from the losing streak to the close-knit and supportive culture the team has cultivated.

“After that three-game losing streak, it would have been easy to get down on each other,” Powell said. “But I think this past weekend, winning both games handily in regulation comes down to the type of guys we have in the locker room, who are not gonna turn on each other and want to win for each other.”

This coming weekend, the Cardinals look to continue their hot streak as they travel up to Maine to take on Bowdoin on Friday, Feb. 10 and Colby on Feb. 11. Currently, the two teams sit at sixth and fifth place respectively in the NESCAC standings. Wesleyan is ranked second in the conference standings and remains the only team to have not lost a single conference game in regulation. But despite the strong position in which the Red and Black currently find themselves, they know not to take victories against either team as a given.

“These teams always play us hard so we just gotta be ready,” Lachance said. “We’re definitely really excited to come off two big wins. We don’t want to drop any games at this point and we’re really fighting for that top spot in the league.”

Above all, the Cardinals remain confident in both their skills and their strong sense of brotherhood and camaraderie, which they believe has been key to their success so far this season and which they hope will continue to give them the results they desire going forward.

“Off-ice friendship among the teammates is definitely a big thing that we were going into the season as seniors harping on,” Uemura said. “Whether that was going to the volleyball games in Minion costumes or doing some sort of activity on the weekends, I think that was one of the more important things that is paying dividends throughout the season. So I’m really happy to be a part of something so special. These are guys that I will be best friends with forever, so it’s a really good experience to go through this with them and fight for a top spot.”
Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu.