Sports
Men’s and women’s hockey prepare for playoffs
By Jack Vissicchio ’17
February 27, 2015
This coming weekend, both the men’s and women’s hockey teams are gearing up for playoff hockey. The men and women will be looking for consistency heading into the playoffs in hopes of playing for several more weeks.
This past weekend, the men’s team took on Williams. Celebrating the seniors, the Continentals wanted to put on a strong performance in front of the home crowd for one final weekend. Coming into the game Williams was ranked fourteenth in the country.
The men, however, were not intimidated as they cruised to a 5-1 victory. It was an impressive effort on both ends of the ice as Tim Nowacki ’18 stopped a career-high 51 shots to earn his third win of the year. This save total was the highest by a Continental since Jan. 6, 2007.
On the other end Robbie Murden ’17 led the way with three points and Truman Landowski ’17 and Brandon Willett ’18 both had a goal and an assist apiece. The win extended Hamilton’s win streak to a NESCAC best four straight games.
Unfortunately, the men’s winning streak was to be short lived, as they suffered a difficult defeat the next day against Middlebury. It may not have been an ideal finish for seniors Marko Brelih, Patrick Curtis, Patrick Sen, Nicholas Vassos, Joe Rausch and Zach Arnold as they completed their last home game at Sage Rink. However, it did land them a sixth seed in the NESCAC playoffs. Murden scored his team-leading fourteenth goal of the year and Brelih and Curtis both contributed a goal each.
The Continentals will now face the Connecticut College Camels on Saturday on the road. The team should be feeling confident, as they defeated Conn earlier in the year on the road 4-2. However, to win they are going to need the continued contributions from Murden on offense and Nowacki in goal.
Murden is tied for second in the NESCAC with 14 goals and is tied for fourth with 16 assists. Overall, his 30 points have him tied for fourth place in the NESCAC. Nowacki ranked third in the NESCAC with a .931 save percentage and is fourth in average goals against at 2.11.
The women’s team also got their weekend off to a hot start with a 2-1 victory over Colby at home. It was the first game of a back to back against the Mules. Teal Gosselin ’17 opened the game’s scoring with a power-play goal in the first period. Later in the third period, Megan Fitzgerald ’16 scored the game-winning goal, and the Continental defense withstood a late Mule push that included two minutes of a six-on-four power play in the final minutes of the third period.
The women also received a strong contribution from reigning NESCAC player of the week, goalie Sam Walther ’18. Walther posted a save percentage of .979 and a 0.48 goals against average in a 1-0-1 weekend for the Continentals. She made 21 saves in Friday’s 1-1 tie at Bowdoin College and stopped all 25 shots she faced in Saturday’s 2-0 win against the Polar Bears. Coming into the game Walther was ranked seventh in the conference with a 1.83 goals against average and is tenth with a .931 save percentage.
Unfortunately, like the men, the women were not able to complete the weekend sweep after falling to the Mules 1-0 on Saturday. The women suffered a difficult injury to Walther early in the game. However, Sarah Schuchardt ’15 stepped up in her first appearance since Jan. 13, holding the Mules scoreless over the final two periods.
Even with the loss, the women were still able to gain the eighth seed in the upcoming NESCAC championships. They are looking ahead towards a difficult task against number one seed Middlebury. The nationally ranked number three Panthers (18-3-3, 13-1-2) finished alone in first place in the conference standings, and are the top seed for the championship for the ninth time in 14 years. However, an upset could be in the mix if Walther is able to remain healthy, as she is ranked seventh in the NESCAC with a 1.80 goal against average.