NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's ice hockey team scored twice in the first period, and the Camels held on to beat visiting Colby College 3-1 on Friday night from Dayton Arena. With the win, Conn improves to 3-4 overall and 2-3 in the NESCAC, while Colby falls to 2-2- overall and 1-1-2 on the year.

Colby (2-2-2, 1-1-2) fired off the first shot of the contest just over a minute in, but Will McEvoy (Ottawa, Ontario) made the early save. Conn (3-4, 2-3) responded with their first shot a minute later, but Jack Luca's (Milton, Mass.) effort was turned aside. It did not take long for the Camels to open the scoring however, as Rocco Testa-Basi (Holland Patent, N.Y.) fired a shot into the top corner to put Conn up 1-0 at 5:54, as Logan Cleary (Mentor, Ohio) and Shane Zarcone (Huntington, N.Y.) earned the assists. Three minutes later, the lead was doubled as Testa-Basi sprung Cleary on a breakaway, making no mistake, putting the Camels up 2-0, a lead they held after one.

The Mules fired off an early shot in the second period, but Conn continued to put pucks on net. However, Colby finally got on the board at 12:26 on a tally from Javi Ubarri, cutting the deficit to 2-1. After a huge penalty kill from the Camels, the Mules became a little undisciplined, as Conn was awarded an extended 5-on-3 opportunity late in the period. With time winding down in the period, Sean Detloff (Harrison Township, Mich.) and Cole Eichler (King, Ontario) played a little catch, before the latter rifled a shot in at the near post, to give the Camels a 3-1 lead heading to the third period.

Colby came out strong in the third period looking to get back into the game, but the Camels defense, along with McEvoy stayed strong. With just under two minutes remaining, the Mules pulled the goalie for the extra attacker, and threw everything they had at the Camels. Once again the Conn defense held off the late push, as the Camels came away with the 3-1 win.

Conn held a slim edge on shots, 31-30, while holding a 30-29 advantage on face-off wins.

McEvoy was fantastic in goal, stopping 29 of 30 shots in the win. Cleary and Testa-Basi paced the offense with two points, while Eichler, Detloff, and Zarcone all added one. Conn blocked nine shots as a team, led by Jon Barker's (North Kingstown, R.I.) three, with Kei Yasuda (Nagoya, Japan) and Kareem Alazem (McLean, Va.) both blocking two. John Russo (South Windsor, Conn.)  led the Camels in the circle, winning 11 of 18 draws, while Conn went 1-5 on the power play and 2-2 on the penalty kill.

Andy Beran got the start in goal for Colby, making 28 saves on 31 shots. Ubarri tallied the lone goal, while Jayden Grier and John McElaney both recorded one assist. The Mules won 29 face-offs while going 4-5 on penalty kill and 0-2 on the power play.

Conn wraps up play in 2023 tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. as the Camels host Bowdoin College in Dayton Arena.