Men’s ice hockey is back on a hot streak, winning three of the last four games, all of which have been against NESCAC opponents. After swiftly beating Tufts two weekends ago, the Cardinals resumed play against Connecticut College on Tuesday, Feb. 8. At the time of the game, the Conn. College Camels were just above the Cardinals in NESCAC standings. The game was a must-win for the Wesleyan team if it wanted to stay in contention for a playoff berth. The Camels commenced the scoring, as they netted two goals in the last two minutes of the first period to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. After a slow start, the Cardinals found some momentum in the second period on a goal from Brett Bandazian ’12. The Camels and Cardinals would both see two power play opportunities throughout the rest of the second, but neither team converted any goals.
The Cardinals came out strong in the third period. Geoff Mucha ’12 scored a goal in the first minute of play to even the score at two. Tightly contested play would characterize the remainder of the third period, with both teams trading penalties and power play opportunities. The Cardinals broke the deadlock halfway through the third period on another goal from Mucha. Up 3-2, the Cardinals did well to stay out of the box for the remainder of the game, as Conn. racked up four more penalties while the Cardinals suffered just two.
Following their victory against Conn., the Cardinals made a trip up to Maine where they faced Colby on Friday, Feb. 11 and Bowdoin on Saturday, Feb. 12. Both teams have winning records in the NESCAC this season, and Colby took an early and formidable lead, going up 3-0 after two periods of play. Nik Tasiopoulos ’14 got the Cardinals on the board on a power play early in the third period. Anthony DePietto ’11 would score just minutes later, and close the gap to just one goal with 12 minutes remaining. The Cardinals failed to maintain their momentum; however, and Colby scored again with five minutes remaining to provide the final 4-2 score.
The Cardinals next faced Bowdoin, the eighth-ranked team in the country and formerly the top team in the NESCAC. Despite its tough loss to Colby, the Wesleyan team didn’t lose faith that the Polar Bears could be beaten. The Polar Bears scored first, but the Cardinals responded with a goal from Nick Craven ’13 early in the game. Heading into the second period, the teams remained tied at one. It was in the second that Wesleyan would get the Polar Bears on their heels. Co-captain Tom Salah ’12 scored on a four-on-four opportunity to give the Cardinals the lead, and Adam Kaiser ’13 would score minutes later to give the Cardinals some cushion with seven minutes remaining in the second. The Bowdoin team responded with a goal of its own late in the second, only to be neutralized by another Cardinal goal scored by Keith Buehler ’14 just 20 seconds later. With a commanding 4-2 lead in the third period, the Cardinals refused to stop the pressure. Craven would score again just two minutes into the period to put Wesleyan up 5-2. Both teams would exchange one more goal each (Wesleyan’s final goal came on an empty-netter from Micah Ehiorobo ’13), but Bowdoin simply could never overcome the three-goal deficit, and the Cardinals held on for a convincing 6-3 win. Matt Hadge ’13 played an outstanding game in net, racking up a total of 28 saves.
“We had to come away with at least one win in Maine,” said Craven. “We played well on Friday but lost, so there was a lot of pressure to win against Bowdoin. We’ve struggled on the road this year, having won only one game, so it was challenging to play against Bowdoin in their own rink. We showed a lot of composure though. We were able to shut down their power play and bury our best chances.”
With the decisive win over Bowdoin, the Cardinals now find themselves in position to clinch a playoff berth with a win against Trinity on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
“Trinity has been playing some really good hockey lately, sweeping Bowdoin and Colby this past weekend,” says Craven, “but we’re on a hot streak of our own, and we’re excited to face off with them for the first time this year.”
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