Road wins at St. Anselm (6-2) and New England College (3-2) after a 1-1 home tie with 4th-ranked Plattsburgh lifted Bill Kangas’ Williams men’s ice hockey team (9-3-2) from 15th in the US College Hockey Online national poll to 9th.This marks the Ephs' highest ranking this season.
The Ephs were whistled for just three penalties, used a sticky defense and received solid goaltending from sophomore Ryan Purdy to record the tie with Plattsburgh to open play last week.
Senior forward and captain Alex Smigelski got the Ephs off on the right foot in New Hampshire last weekend when he netted a hat trick in the win at St. Anselm. Smigelski’s 11 goals on the season places him in a tie for first in NESCAC with Chris Lorenc of Hamilton.
At New England College the Ephs scored the first three goals of the game and held off the Pilgrims to record the 3-2 win. Again the Ephs were stingy on defense, stayed of the penalty box (2 penalties) and benefitted from another strong effort from Purdy in net. Matt Masucci netted the game winner, while Andrew Lepore and Ryan Scott were credited with the assists on the tally.
The Ephs are currently third in NESCAC with a conference record of 7-3-0, but are the second highest nationally ranked NESCAC team of the four currently ranked – Amherst (7), Middlebury (12), and Colby (15).
The Ephs are home this weekend for two key NESCAC contests. Friday night at 7:00 pm Williams will faceoff versus second place Bowdoin (8-3-0) and on Saturday at 3:00 pm vs. fourth place Colby (6-2-3).
Both games this weekend will be offered as pay to watch webcasts and may be seen by clicking here.
USCHO.com Division III Men's Poll
Minneapolis, Minn./January 25, 2010
Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week
1 Oswego (18) 18-1-0 298 1
2 Norwich ( 2) 14-0-3 282 2
3 St. Norbert 15-3-1 252 4
4 Plattsburgh 12-2-4 240 3
5 St. Scholastica 13-3-3 214 7
6 Elmira 14-3-1 201 4
7 Amherst 12-2-2 158 9
8 Hamline 11-3-3 135 8
9 Williams 9-3-2 121 15
10 Gustavus Adolphus 13-4-2 116 10
11 Adrian 14-3-0 101 12
12 Middlebury 7-3-4 83 6
13 Manhattanville 14-4-0 53 14
14 Wis.-River Falls 11-6-2 43 11
15 Colby 10-2-3 39 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Wentworth 17, Curry 13, Bowdoin 12, Fredonia 5, Wis.-Superior 4, Wis.-Stout 2
