The men’s hockey team battled through a 1-1 weekend, gaining two important points in the NESCAC standings to fortify its spot in the playoff race.
The Cardinals now sit in a tie for fifth place with 15 points, even with Williams, and one point ahead of both Connecticut College and Trinity. Tufts, with nine points, is in ninth place—one spot out of the playoffs—and Hamilton is tenth with seven points. Each team has just four league games remaining, so it will be tough for either of those two bottom teams to leapfrog one of the top eight to gain a spot in the playoffs.
“In this league, four points could separate five to six teams at the end of the year,” said Captain Brenton Stafford ’08. “Every NESCAC win is big.”
Friday night, the Cardinals played against Conn. College on the road, falling 5-3. The team carried a 3-2 lead into the third period, on goals by Alex Shklyarevsky ’08, Derek Davidson ’08 and Dallas Bossort ’09. However, penalties told the story of the third period, as Conn. College was able to notch up three power play goals on its way to victory.
Sam Robinson ’10 added to his team-leading points total with two assists on the game, and Bossort, Woody Redpath ’10 and J.J. Evans ’09 also tallied assists on the day.
The Cardinals were able to bounce back on Saturday with a key win at Tufts. After trailing at the end of the first period 1-0, Davidson put in his second goal in as many games. After a Tufts penalty late in the second period, Bossort also scored for the second straight game, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead through two periods. David Layne ’10 scored two goals in the third period to put the game away, on two more assists from Robinson. Bossort, Scott Burns ’09, Brian Dew ’09, Brian Erensen ’08, John Wierzba ’09 and Anthony Christiano ’10 all got on the stat sheet with assists for Wesleyan.
“We have faced some very tough competition over the past few weeks, but our team has responded positively and we have managed to gain points when we need them,” Stafford said.
Looking ahead to the weekend, the Cards take on Bowdoin (10-5-0) Friday night at 7 p.m., followed by Colby (10-4-1) Saturday at 3 p.m., for the final two home games of the year. They have the potential to be extremely important, as those two teams sit directly above Wesleyan in the standings.
The following weekend, the team closes out the regular season on the road, traveling to play ECAC opponents Castleton (7-6-2) and Skidmore (3-11-1). They both count as league games, and could help the Cardinals in their final push towards that coveted four seed, which comes attached with a home playoff game.
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