Sports
M. hockey falls to nationally-ranked Trinity in OT thriller at Citrus Bowl
By Kaitlin McCabe ’16
December 10, 2015
What this year’s Citrus Bowl lacked in thrown titular fruit (save for an arbitrary orange casually tossed onto the ice post-gameplay) it gained in momentum for the upcoming bulk of the NESCAC men’s hockey season.
On Saturday, Hamilton (3-3-0, 1-2 NESCAC) lost their two-goal lead in an overtime defeat by defending national champions Trinity (4-1-0, 3-0). The final score was 3-2.
“A loss like that is always tough to stomach,” said alternate captain Bennett Hambrook ’17, a leading defender for the team. “As a group we felt we channeled the energy of the building really well early and pushed a good team on the other side to play our brand of hockey.”
Robbie Murden ’17 scored a goal in each of the first two periods as the Continentals took a 2-0 lead with 4:55 left in the second period. His impressive first score, just 3:29 into play, was assisted by T.J. Daigler ’18 and Brandon Willett ’18.
Neither team held possession in the final minutes of regulation until the Bantams tied the score with 109 seconds left in the third period, forcing the teams into overtime. They then put in the game winner 1:47 into the extra session. They earned the win despite a spectacular effort by Hamilton’s Evan Buitenhuis ’18, who stopped a total of 51 shots in goal.
Unlike the back-and-forth monotony of play seen in the third period, the few minutes of overtime was all Trinity; the Bantams outshot Hamilton 5-1, though the Continentals had been active throughout the game. Though Buitenhuis made four quick saves, he was unable to prevent Trinity’s game-winning goal in the last 2:09 of play.
“When it turned into a special teams game our momentum suffered and we let them get back into the game,” Hambrook explained. Murden also cited turnovers as an area of play that needs additional focus.
“[We] can’t make excuses for the loss,” he added. “We need to find a way to bear down and close out those tight games, no matter who our opponent might be. As a team, it is important that you learn from losses like that and move forward.”
Despite the loss, Hamilton racked upon impressive statistics during the game. The men allowed just one goal in 23 opportunities, putting their penalty-killing unit at second in national rankings. Meanwhile, Buitenhuis stopped 97 of 101 shots in two overtime contests, adding up to a 1.89 goals against average stat. He also successfully stopped 16 shots at goal while Hamilton was short-handed, helping them kill all seven of Trinity’s power plays.
In a show of retribution, Hamilton scored twice in a span of 78 seconds to ultimately defeat Wesleyan (0-2-4, 0-1-3 NESCAC) 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.
Again, Murden opened the scoring early in the second period, stealing an attempt at a Wesleyan clearing pass. Less than two minutes later Jason Brochu ’19 earned his second goal of the season, assisted by alternate captain Tyler Lovejoy ’16 and Jon Stickel ’19.
Buitenhuis, meanwhile, made 44 saves for the Continentals and raised his save percentage to .955, which ranks fourth in Division III.
With their most recent victory, Hamilton stretched its streak to 24 penalties successfully killed, holding the Cardinals without a power-play goal in their four tries. Now the Continentals have killed all but one of the 27 power-play situations they have faced, putting their 96.2 percent success rate second in national rankings.
After an overall successful weekend, the team received an additional honor when Murden was selected as the NESCAC Men’s Ice Hockey Player of the Week. He is tied for a NESCAC lead with five goals and nine points, and he is tied for seventh place with four assists.
Yet, there’s no doubt that the team excels because of skills in all areas. In addition to the apparent talents of starters like Murden and Buitenhuis, the rookie class is, according to Hambrook, “finding a way to contribute and raise the level of competition amongst our group.” The Continentals host NESCAC opponents Middlebury (Friday at 7 p.m.) and Williams (Saturday at 3 p.m.), and though “there are no easy nights in the NESCAC” according to Murden, the men have every intention of utilizing their home advantage.
“It’s our building,” Hambrook stressed. “We plan to be in control this weekend and cause them to make the adjustments to play with us.”