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Sharp shooting, stiffling defense leads Ephs to Little 3 win over Wesleyan, 6-0Williams Sports Info
11:17AM / Monday, February 02, 2009
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Cardinals of Wesleyan University entered this afternoon's game against Williams with a chance to steal this year's Little Three title away from their Massachusetts rivals with a win. However, they were met with an overwhelming offensive attack and a strangling defensive strategy that propelled the Ephs to 6-0 shutout victory. Williams (11-4-2) has been victorious in five of their last six, including their current four-game win streak, and have improved to 9-2-2 in the NESCAC/ECAC conference. Wesleyan, who are now winless in their last five games, fall to a 2-12-1 record with a 2-8-1 conference mark.
Today's game opened with a ceremonial faceoff in honor of former Williams men's hockey coach Bill McCormick, who lead the Ephs for 36 seasons. The coach himself was present at the game, and stepped out on the ice to drop the puck for the aforementioned puck drop. Over 100 Williams alumni, including several former Eph hockey players, came out to support the Ephs and pay homage to McCormick. They also participated in a series of alumni games held at the Chapin Rink earlier in the day.
"It was nice to see so many alumni there for Coach McCormick and it made it that much more satisfying to get the win," commented current Eph head coach Bill Kangas. "We skated hard for a full sixty and did all the things we needed to do to earn this victory."
Williams scored early and often in this contest, beginning with a power-play goal off the stick of senior forward Octavian Jordan, who intercepted a Cardinal clearing attempt and wristed in the unassisted game-winner from the top of the circle at 1:59, his 6th on the year. Fellow senior forward Matt Draheim followed-up later in the period with a bad-angle, wrap-around goal while the teams skated four-a-side. Draheim added another score to his stat sheet at 6:39 in the second period in similar, wrap-around fashion off a dump-in feed from Jordan, giving him 4 goals this season. Sophomore forward Ryan Young also found the Cardinal net in that period at 2:16 off a faceoff win by sophomore forward Matt Masucci.
Other notable efforts were put forth by freshman defenseman Patrick Morrissey and senior defenseman Christopher Fahey of Williams. Morrissey registered a goal on a third period 2-on-1 Eph rush (set-up by a perfect pass from sophomore forward Matt Horan), as well as an assist on a late third period score by sophomore forward Jason Guttek during a 5-3 Williams advantage. Fahey also earned an assist on the Guttek goal, in addition to his assist on the first Draheim score.
"Our seniors all had impressive games today and lead our team by example," remarked Kangas. "Fahey, Jordan, and Draheim had particularly strong performance, and Rick Redman, our backup netminder provided some valuable insight from the bench. Ryan [Purdy] had a solid day in goal and came up big for us when he needed to."
Purdy, the freshman netminder, picked up his 2nd shutout of the season, and remains undefeated with six wins and a 1.43 goals-against average. The Eph penalty kill was a prefect nine-for-nine on the afternoon, and grew "stronger as the game went on," according to Kangas.
Williams will face what will be their most difficult challenge all year on Monday, when they travel to upstate New York to take on the #1-ranked team in the nation in Plattsburgh. It is a challenge that Kangas said his team is excited for, and "one that they will be practicing and preparing hard for." The puck will drop at 7:00pm.
In other conference action, Trinity defeated Middlebury 3-1 and Amherst trampled Connecticut College by a 7-1 score. Amherst and Middlebury are now tied for the division lead 10-2-1, just in front of second-ranked Williams.
"Our main concern is making the playoffs and if we keep up this level of play, I am confident that we will," concluded Kangas. "It was great to pick up the four points this weekend and we hope to take this momentum into the coming week, one that may prove to be our toughest yet." |
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