After a 3-4 start before the holiday break, the men’s ice hockey team has skated to a 2-3-1 record in January, highlighted by a game played 10 days ago that still has not reached a conclusion.
In a Jan. 19 home game against tough opponent New England College (10-3-3), the Cardinals held a 4-2 lead after the second period when a Zamboni malfunction caused the game to be postponed.
“It was so weird,” said captain Brenton Stafford ’08. “I’ve seen a few hit the boards in my 20 years of playing, but have never heard of one breaking down.”
The two teams will take the ice tonight to complete the game, with the Cardinals looking to hold on to the lead and capture the two points.
“Since my time here at Wes, we haven’t beaten New England College,” Stafford said. “We still have to have a solid period, since those two points are huge for us.”
The Cardinals started off the new year on a three game road trip, going 1-1-1. The first game was a non-conference against Manhattanville, in which Wesleyan was outshot 37-12 in falling 6-0. They bounced back the following weekend at Salem State with a 3-2 victory, highlighted by the third period go-ahead goal by Dallas Bossort ’09 and 35 saves by goaltender Mike Palladino ’09.
The next night, the team took on Southern Maine, who came into the game at 10-1-1. The two teams skated to a 2-2 tie, as Palladino put together another solid effort with 29 saves. Sam Robinson ’10 assisted the first Wesleyan goal and, after the Cardinals fell behind 2-1, netted the tying goal five seconds into the third period.
The Cards then came back home for a game against Saint Anselm, which ended in a 4-2 win. Palladino stopped 20 shots, and Stafford and Anthony DePietto ’11 scored goals within 15 seconds of each other to ice the game in the third period.
After the postponed New England game, the Cardinals traveled this past weekend for road games against Saint Michael’s and nationally ranked Norwich. The team was unable to come away with a victory, falling 4-2 to Saint Michael’s and 5-1 at Norwich.
Despite up and down results in the win-loss record, the new offense installed this season that stressed a balanced attack and contributions from top-to-bottom of the lineup has yielded the intended results. 23 players have at least one point, including 16 with a goal. Leading the way are Scott Burns ’09 and Robinson with ten points each. David Layne ’10 leads the Cardinals with four goals, though nine players have scored at least two times.
This weekend the Cards will play in back-to-back home games against Middlebury on Friday and Williams on Saturday.
“Those games are huge, because we only play each NESCAC team once,” Stafford said.
With seven points and a 3-5-1 conference record, the Cardinals currently sit in ninth place in the NESCAC standings. However, the completion of the New England game could propel them up to sixth if the Cards can hold on to the two-goal lead.
A home playoff game, something awarded to the top four teams in the league, is not out of the question, but it will take a strong finish from a team growing more confident with every passing game.
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