Connecticut College picked up its first men's ice hockey win in five games on Friday by defeating Middlebury College, while the women's ice hockey team lost a winning streak to Amherst College. The following information was provided by William Tomasian, sports information director at Connecticut College:
Men's Ice Hockey: Conn College 4, Middlebury 3
Middlebury dropped a hard-fought 4-3 game to Connecticut College on Friday night in Kenyon Arena. The Panthers (7-8-2, 6-5) have now dropped three straight games and four of their last five. The victory snaps a four-game winless streak for the Camels (5-10-2, 3-7-1). Both teams return to action on Saturday as Middlebury hosts Tufts while Connecticut College visits Williams.
Middlebury jumped on the board just 1:08 into the game when Tom Cantwell scored with a snapshot from the left wing over the shoulder of Marcus Calvanico (22 saves) for his first of the year. Connecticut College tied the game at the 5:51 mark when Keith Veronesi scored his team-leading eighth of the season, putting home a rebound after a wrap-around attempt from J.J. McGregor.
The Camels struck for a pair of goals in a 31 second span to take a 3-1 advantage. Julien Boutet fed Steven Victor at 15:50, with Victor scoring his first of the year on a breakaway. J.C. Cangelosi netted his second of the season at 16:21, scoring on his own rebound from the slot. Middlebury had a late power play and threatened, but ended the period with a 3-1 deficit.
Charles Nerbak made it a one-goal game 9:15 into the second period, scoring his team-leading eighth of the year with some nifty moves on a breakaway.
Nerbak struck for his second of the game and ninth of the season 4:50 into the third period with assists going to Charlie Strauss and Martin Drolet. The power play goal came just after a five-on-three expired, with Nerbak scoring with a blast from the point.
Connecticut College scored the eventual game-winner at 7:48, with a goal just as a power play had expired. Marc Roper didn't get all of a shot from the right side, with Veronesi picking up the puck and scoring his second of the night (9th of the season) from the high slot.
Middlebury took a penalty with 1:53 remaining in the game, but still came on strong with pressure in the final few minutes. Their best chance to score came when Strauss fed Mike Longo in the slot with 1:20 left, with Calvanico making a big save. The Panthers pulled their netminder with 48 seconds left but could not net the equalizer.
Junior Eric Zagorski made his collegiate debut for the Panthers, making 13 saves on the night. Middlebury ended the night with a 25-17 shots advantage.
Tracking the Camels (Not Including Friday Night's Action) Connecticut College sophomore goalie Marcus Calvanico (Flower Mound, Tex.) made 70 saves in his first two NESCAC starts last weekend. Saturday, Jan. 14, Calvanico turned aside 41 of 44 of Wesleyan shots and made five stops in the overtime to lead his squad in a 3-3 tie with the Cardinals. Calvanico added 29 saves in a 3-2 loss to Trinity Sunday.
Sophomore Mike Sinsigalli (Wilton, Conn.) has scored four goals in his past five games for the Camels. Senior Sean Curran (Wilmette, Ill.) is leading the league 16 assists and is fifth in point production with 20 points. Curran's line-mate J.J. McGregor (Wichita, Kan.) is dishing out 11 assists to rank seventh in the league and has scored five goals for a total of 16 points.
Kevin Reich (Montvale, N.J.) and Marc Roper (Moncton, New Brunswick) have been defensive stalwarts for Coach Jim Ward's squad.
Women's Ice Hockey: Amherst 3, Conn College 2
Geneva Lloyd (Calgary, Alberta) scored a pair of power-play goals in the second period to lead the seventh ranked Amherst College women's hockey team to a 3-2 victory against Connecticut College in a NESCAC women's hockey game played at Dayton Arena Friday.
The Lord Jeffs improve their record to 14-3 with an 8-1 record in the NESCAC in their fourth straight win, while the Camels have their unbeaten streak halted at six games and fall to 8-6-2 with 5-5-1 mark in conference action.
Ellen Swiontkowski (Minnetonka, Minn.) chipped in with a goal and two assist, while Josie Fisher (Norwich, Vt.) contributed two assists for the Lord Jeffs.
Sophomore net-minder Kerri Stuart (Tewksbury, Mass.) made 20 saves en route to the victory for the visitors.
Connecticut College sophomore Courtney Dumont (Lewiston, Maine) had a goal and an assist to lead the hosts. Olivia Farrell (New York, N.Y.) netted her fifth goal of the season for the Camels.
Junior Amy Leichliter (West Chester, Pa.) made 34 saves in the setback for the hosts.
Trailing 3-1 as they headed into the final 20 minutes of regulation, Dumont brought the crowd to their feet with a backhanded goal at 2:30 of the third period. Caroline Corbett (Norwood, Mass.) assisted on the score.
The Camels were able to empty their goal with 30 seconds remaining but could the Lord Jeffs were able to hold on for the 3-2 win.
Amherst committed the only two periods in the second period but the Camels could not take advantage. With 5:38 remaining in the middle period, Swiontkowski took a lead pass from Kaitlyn McInnis (Franklin, Mass.) at the blue line and went in for the goal in the one-on-one situation.
Amherst out-shot the Camels 14-to-4 in the opening period of play. Lloyd put the visitors on top for good with her power-play marker at 9:20 of the first period.
The two teams are sponsoring a Teddy Bear Drive to benefit the Boston Children's Hospital. Connecticut College's team manager Lowell Abbott is joining forces with Stephanie Clegg of Amherst College for the Teddy Bear Drive.
Fans and attendees of Saturday's game that faces off at 3 in New London are encouraged to bring a clean stuffed Teddy Bear that will be delivered by the teams to Boston Children's Hospital.
Connecticut College junior Molly Murphy is also coordinating a bone marrow drive. The drive is a part of the hockey community's way of honoring the memory of Mandi Schwartz, a former Yale University player who died from Leukemia. Mandi was a teammate of Molly's sister Caroline at Yale. Caroline is now an assistant coach at Trinity College in the NESCAC.
The Camels will also be welcoming several members of the Southeastern Connecticut Special Olympics Speed Skating Team at the game on Saturday.
"I'm proud that our student athletes are committed to assisting others," Connecticut College head women's hockey coach Kristin Steele said. "It is particularly motivating that two competing teams are willing to work together to make these efforts successful."
Admissions and parking for Saturday's game is free of charge.
