Courtesy of Williams Sports Information
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - Every time the Colby men's ice hockey team scored a goal the Williams Ephs scored two in response and Williams claimed a 7-3 NESCAC Quarterfinal win and will advance to next weekend's semifinal round to be hosted by Trinity College.
With the win Williams improved its record to 15-7-3, while Colby ends their season 11-11-3.
Sixth-seeded Colby netted the game's first goal when they capitalized on a cross checking penalty by the Ephs' Craig Kitto. Kitto was whistled for the infraction at 3:59 of the first period and the Mules scored just 15 seconds into the power play.
Colby's Ben Chwick scored off a rebound of a shot by Colin Reilly at 4:14 to give the Mules a 1-0 lead. The goal was the third of the season that Chwick had scored against Williams.
Williams tied the game at one when Alex DeBaere came in from the blue line from Colby goalie Sam Parker's left and fired on Parker. Parker got a piece of the DeBaere shot, but the rebound fell onto the stick of Matt Werner who knocked it home at 7:46 of the period. Matt Doyle was credited with an assist on the goal for leading DeBaere into the offensive zone with a pass.
At 13:35 the Ephs took a 2-1 lead when they scored on a power play opportunity. The goal came 1:23 into an interference call on Colby's Nick Lanza.
Frankie Mork dug the puck off the boards to Parker's right and hit Tyler Young down low. Young fired a crisp pass across the goal front to a wide-open George Hunkele, who scored at 13:35 from Parker's left.
Colby held a 19-18 advantage in shots in the first 20 minutes, but Williams went into the intermission up 2-1.
At 1:37 of the second period from Parker's extreme right along the goal line extended the Ephs' Frankie Mork smashed a shot off Parker into the net, giving Williams a 3-1 lead. Matt Doyle and Alex DeBaere were credited with assists.
Colby's Robert McCormick scored at 5:40 from the doorstep off a pass from behind the goal by Brendan Cosgrove, cutting the Ephs' lead in half and making the score 3-2.
Williams head coach Bill Kangas called a timeout at 6:55 of the period and his team responded to his comments by holding the puck into the offensive zone for extended periods of time after the stop in action.
Just under five minutes later at 11:50 the Ephs' aggressive play in the offensive zone was finally rewarded when Nick Anderson banged home a rebound of a shot by Brian McNamara off a setup by Craig Kitto, boosting the Eph lead to 4-2.
Thirty-seven seconds later the Eph lead grew to 5-2 when an errant Eph pass in the offensive zone drifted all the way back to Eph goalie Sean Dougherty. Dougherty came out of the crease and launched a long pass up the right wing to Sam Gray at the blue line. Gray found Paul Steinig in front and Steinig popped the puck past Parker from just outside the blue ice.
The Ephs took a 5-2 lead into the second break, while Colby held a 31-30 lead in shots.
Kai Frankville tallied Colby's third and final goal. Frankville blasted a shot from just inside the blue line to Dougherty's left that got through the traffic in front untouched. Devin Albert set up the goal with a pass from the goal line extended back to Frankville. The goal made it 5-3 Williams.
The sixth Eph goal was scored at 10:10 when Tyler Young scored from in front off a pass from Paul Steinig.
The final goal of the contest was netted by Tucker Dayton who came off the bench to collect a pass that had been deflected into the neutral zone by David Jarrett.
Dayton carried the puck over the blue line and then fired a low shot past Parker at 13:07. David Jarrett was credited with an assist. 7-3.
On the night, Eph goalie Sean Dougherty turned aside 47 of the 50 Colby shots to record the win. Colby's Sam Parker was credited with 34 saves.
The Ephs' seven goals in the contest were scored by seven different players.
