Despite an impressive victory over NESCAC rival Colby (10-7-4) on Friday evening, the men’s ice hockey team (7-14-0) has been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The eighth and final spot in the tournament is currently held by Tufts, which, after defeating University of New England by a 4-2 margin on Friday, now sits with an insurmountable seven-point lead in the standings over Wesleyan. After being eliminated from the playoffs, the Cardinals took the ice against NESCAC leader Bowdoin on Saturday and fell to the Polar Bears 5-2.
With their playoff hopes still alive, the Cards took on the White Mules of Colby on Friday in a must-win game. Wesleyan entered the game just 1-18-2 all-time against Colby, with the lone win a 2-1 victory in Maine last season. The first period was a defensive battle, with a total of just eleven shots on goal between the two teams, eight from Wes and a measly three from Colby.
Heading into the second with a blank scoreboard, the Cards stepped up their offensive game. Don Kleckner ’13 netted the first goal of the game at the 1:18 mark of the second, which started off a run of four goals for the Cards. At the 11:56 mark, senior Woody Redpath scored on an empty net after the Colby goalie got tangled up in a loose-puck situation, and another tally came from Anthony DePietto ’11 just 1:30 later off a well angled wrist shot. Adam Kaiser ’13 lit the lamp for the Cards at the 16:23 mark to give Wesleyan a 4-0 advantage with four minutes left in the period. Colby responded with a goal of its own at the 17:12 mark, but the Cards held on, and an empty-net goal by Kleckner with 27 seconds remaining sealed the 5-1 victory.
The victory celebration was short-lived for the Cards, who learned later that evening that Tufts had completed a comeback win over UNE. This meant that Wesleyan’s chances of making the NESCAC tournament were over, and that for the second year in a row the Cards were going to miss the playoffs. Despite this knowledge, the Cardinals came out strong on Saturday against the Bowdoin Polar Bears, giving the visitors a very competitive game for the first two periods of play. Heading into the third, however, the Cardinals were down 2-1, as Wesleyan again ran into trouble converting on power-play situations. Wes gave up three man-up goals on seven Bowdoin tries and converted none of their own six attempts. This margin proved to be the deciding factor in the game, as Bowdoin wrapped up the match with a 5-2 victory.
Wesleyan has two remaining conference games, both road contests against ECAC East squads. The Cardinals will take on the University of Southern Maine on Friday at 7 p.m. and UNE on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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