Ephs cruise to 4-0 victory over Skidmore
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Williams College men's hockey team got four goals from four separate Ephs en route to a 4-0 victory over conference foe Skidmore Friday. The win makes it three out of four for the Ephs, and propels them to 6-3 (2-0 NESCAC) on the year. The Thoroughbreds (6-4) came in having won seven of their last eight games and boasted victories over Colby, Bowdoin, and Castelton in that stretch.
The victory, having come over the 2nd ranked team in the conference, represents the most important victory of the season for the Ephs --- and they did it by committee. Brett Haraguchi, Alex Smigelski, Octavian Jodan, and Ryan Young all notched scores for the Ephs and goal tender Mark Pulde recorded 42 saves and posted his second straight shutout in the win.
"It was a total team effort, just everybody out there doing the little things." Remarked Eph coach Bill Kangas, "We had guys sliding in and blocking shots, guys scoring goals, guys hustling and that's how you get a shutout win."
Despite the lopsided score, the Thoroughbreds were able to edge the Ephs in shots (Williams: 35, Skidmore: 42), but the Ephs had two less penalties and four less penalties minutes en route to recording one power play score in the win. However, the games first and most sensational score came when the Ephs found themselves defending against the power play.
With just five seconds remaining in the 1st period, Brett Haraguchi intercepted a Thoroughbred pass towards the Ephs end and took it the distance to give the Ephs the rare short-handed score and the 1-0 advantage.
Williams would take that late first period momentum into the second period, as they would notch scores at the 4:00 mark and the 11:28 mark of the stanza. The first came off the power play, when Andrew Lepore hooked up with Octavian Jordan who promptly slapped it past Skidmore goal tender Andrew Ross (31 saves); then when Alex Smigelski flicked in a point-blank put back score to balloon the Skidmore deficit to three points.
Ryan Young would finalize the scoring with just under four minutes to play in the game, giving the Williams the 4-0 victory.
The Ephs have to gear up for another important showdown tomorrow, January 9th, when they host Castleton State. The Ephs fell to the Spartans 1-0 in overtime just last Friday in there first game back from the holiday break. This time, however, the Ephs will be hosting Castleton. The game is scheduled to start at 4:00 PM.
