February 27, 2014
After what many considered a frustrating year, the Hamilton College men’s hockey team finished up their season this past weekend. While traveling to Williamstown, Mass. and then Middlebury, VT, the Continentals clung to a slim hope of making the playoffs going into their final weekend.
Saturday night the men’s hockey team took the ice against 14th-ranked Williams College. Although Hamilton and Williams tied earlier in the season 1-1 at Hamilton’s Sage Rink, the Ephs dominated play in front of their home fans ahead of their playoff run.
The Ephs (14-6-3, 10-4-3 in the NESCAC) did not allow a goal against the Continentals until just over a minute to play in regulation, and ultimately won the contest 3-1.
The men’s hockey team then traveled up to Middlebury, VT Sunday afternoon for one final showdown against the Panthers Sunday afternoon. After trailing 1-0 going into the second period, the Continentals put two goals past Middlebury goalie, Liam Moorfield-Yee ’16, the first by Pat Curtis ’15 at 4:52 followed by a go-ahead goal by Brad Smelstor ’17 at 9:57.
Although the men’s team went into the third period with a lead, there was only so much the Hamilton goaltender, Joe Quattrocchi ’14 could do, allowing four goals in the period despite 37 saves in the game.
The Continentals totaled six penalties in the game and ultimately went on to drop their final game of the season by a score of 5-2.
After the game first-year goalie Charlie Fennell commented about the season, lamented, “Unfortunately, our record wasn’t exactly as we had hoped, nor does it do justice to how we played throughout the season.”
Fennell went on to say, “We lost quite a few one goal games that could’ve gone either way. We’re looking forward to learning from this year and coming back a better team next winter.”
Indeed that was often the case for this year’s team, as the Continentals lost a total of five games by just one goal, all against NESCAC opponents. As Charlie reiterated, “our team was pretty young with just four seniors on the roster.”
Although the team is indeed young, there is nothing but praise to the four seniors who have put on the Continental sweater for the final time.
Defenseman Jon Carkeek ’17 stated, “The four seniors we are losing were four of the most important guys on our team.” Corkeek continued to say that the graduating senior class includes “two captains, the best goalie in the NESCAC, and one of our top goal scorers.”
Despite the loss of the seniors, the Conts will continue to mature as a team and hope many of the close games will swing into their favor in the coming years.
The Continentals finished the year with an overall record of 5-14-3 and a NESCAC record of 4-11-3. Senior forward Michael DiMare led the team with a total of 27 points while first-year forward Robbie Murden scored the most goals with 11.
Hamilton men’s hockey is poised to only get better with first-year goalie Charlie Fennell and seventeen other underclassmen who are bolstering the lineup.
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