Sports
Hamilton men’s ice hockey struggles to seize the day in conference play
By Dave Meisel '13, Sports Staff Writer
February 9, 2012
Hamilton’s men’s ice hockey team headed into the second semester with a chance against conference opponents to make a run and finish their season strong. Unlike a certain New York pro sports team that capitalized on a similar opportunity over the weekend, the Continentals are squandering that opportunity.
The Continentals are now 7-10-3 and 3-9-2 in the NESCAC. They haven’t won since Jan. 13, when they were looking at an 11-game final stretch, ten against conference opponents.
Since defeating the Connecticut College Camels, the Continentals have gone 0-5-2. They have been outscored 29-15 in that stretch and have not scored more than three goals in any game.
None of their losses have been routs. Though they got beaten up by Amherst and second nationally-ranked SUNY Oswego by a combined score of 11-2 on Jan. 20 and 21, they tied Trinity 3-3 a week later. But they didn’t leave happy with a tie.
Hamilton led 3-1 through two periods on goals by Bryan Kelly ’12, Michael DiMare ’14 and Joe Rausch ’15. But the Continentals gave up two goals in the first two minutes of the third period and couldn’t convert on any of their three power play opportunities in the final period. They followed up the tie against Trinity with a 5-3 loss at Wesleyan and a 4-2 loss to Colby.
The team can hang its hat on its most recent performance. The Continentals tied 15th nationally-ranked Bowdoin 2-2 on Feb. 4. After falling behind 2-0 with 2:38 to go in the first period, Hamilton struck back with two second period goals, both by Anthony Scarpino ’12. The goals were his 13th and 14th of the season. But after Scarpino’s second goal just seven minutes into the period, neither team was able to get on the board.
Cam Gibbar ’13 played masterfully, stopping 24 of 26 shots. Hamilton’s defense was solid on the power play, holding Bowdoin scoreless in four opportunities. But Hamilton squandered a whopping eight power play opportunities, marring an otherwise consistent outing.
Hamilton’s final four-game stretch includes home contests against Connecticut College and Tufts on Feb. 11 and 12, and road games against Middlebury and Williams the following weekend. They have already defeated Conn College and Middlebury, and they only lost to Tufts by one goal, so they may still have a chance to leapfrog Wesleyan, Trinity and Conn to finish sixth in the NESCAC.