Ephs bombard St. Michael's, win 2-1
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Williams College men's hockey team unloaded 45 shots as they snapped a two game losing skid and beat St. Michael's 2-1 Saturday. The Ephs had dropped games to the NCAA #1 and #14 ranked teams in the two games preceding Saturdays conference match up and with the win improve to 12-6-2 (10-3-2 ECAC East-NESCAC). The Purple Knights fall to 7-11-2.
Matt Masucci and freshman Justin Troiani scored goals for the Ephs, while Matt Draheim tallied a pair of assists to lead the offense. The Eph defense killed all three Purple Knight power plays while limiting them to just 22 shots in the win.
For Saint Michael's, Jean-Maxime Legare netted his first goal of the season off of an assist from Matt Rigtrup, while goaltender Brendan Rimmer turned aside 43 shots in the loss.
After a scoreless first period, Williams opened the scoring six minutes into the second period. Masucci wrapped around the net to the center of the right faceoff circle and wristed a shot off the inside of the left post for his seventh goal of the season.
However, the Purple Knights would respond just under six minutes later, when Legare took a two-line flip pass from Rigtrup and slipped the puck past Purdy to make it 1-1 after two periods of play.
The Ephs regained their one-goal lead 4:32 into the third period, 50 seconds into a power play. A shot by Troiani from the left faceoff circle sailed over the left shoulder of Rimmer for what proved to be the game-winning goal, as the Purple Knights were outshot 17-4 in the final frame.
"The kids played tough today." remarked Eph coach Bill Kangas, "Anytime you play on the road you know its going to be tough, but the kids got through it and came out with the win."
The Ephs have six days until they kick of the last stretch of the regular season. They start off next Friday, February 13th, when they host UMASS Boston. The regular seasons final seven days sees the Ephs cram in four conference games, including the regular season finale against Amherst.
