By Johnny Alexandre '22

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Freshman Devan Newhook (St. John's, Newfoundland) and junior Eric Fournier found the back of the net in the opening period as the Connecticut College men's ice hockey team escaped with their third consecutive road victory by defeating the Wesleyan Cardinals, 2-1, at Spurrier-Snyder rink on Saturday afternoon.
 
Initially, it seemed it would be an uneventful first period, with neither goalie being tested early and neither team generating quality scoring opportunities. Fortunately for Connecticut College, Newhook had his eyes set on the net when he received a cross-ice pass from defense partner Fournier. Instead of looking to pass, Newhook fired the puck on net, and with heavy traffic in front of Wesleyan goaltender Erik Voloshin, the puck was able to make its way through, into the top of the Wesleyan (5-7-2) net, giving the Camels the 1-0 lead with about nine minutes left in the first period.
 
The Camel's persistence in getting the puck on the net once again produced a goal roughly two and a half minutes later in the period. Skating with the puck past the red line, Will Winship (Andover, Mass) proceeded to dump the puck into the Wesleyan zone, which was retrieved by Fournier down by the boards to the left of the Wesleyan net. With defense pressing and not much time to react, Fournier fired the puck towards the crowd of players in front of the Wesleyan net. Luckily for the Camels, the puck deflected off of Wesleyan's Wiggle Kerbrat and past Wesleyan goalie Voloshin into the back of the Cardinal net for a 2-0 lead. 
 
The Camels' great first-period momentum would be slightly deflated, however, when in a similar fashion, a bouncing puck managed to rise over tangled up Camel goalie Sean Dynan (Reading, Mass.) in a scuffle in front of the Camels net just about two minutes later. Go Uemera would be credited with the Cardinal goal, and the first period would later conclude with the score held at 2-1 in favor of the Camels. 
 
The second period featured a couple of shots off of the crossbar for each team, but none of the close calls resulted in any goals.
 
A scoreless third period was not without its scoring opportunities. There were several threatening chances from each team, with the Camel's best chances starting with Kei Yasuda (Nagoya, Japan) receiving a chip pass into the zone for a one-on-one opportunity. Following that chance, another Fournier shot nearly went in after it was deflected on the net but just saved by the blocker of Voloshin.
 
The Camel blue line was tested as the Cardinals played two of the last three minutes on the powerplay, but visiting defenders willingly stepped in front of shots to preserve the 2-1 lead, with the help of breakout sophomore goaltender Dynan. 
 
Dynan picked up a third consecutive win with a 21-save performance, while Wesleyan's Veloshin took a 30-save loss. The Camels led in shots 54-41, shots on goal, 32-22, faceoffs won, 31-20, and limited their penalties, four, to Wesleyan's eight.
 
The Camels will look to win their fourth consecutive game when they next face off against Albertus Magnus at home on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m.