HARTFORD, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's ice hockey team opened the year strong, defeating defending NESCAC champion and No. 4 Trinity College 4-2 on Friday night from Keoppel Community Sports Center. With the win, Conn opens the year 1-0 overall and 1-0 in NESCAC play, while Trinity starts 0-1 overall and 0-1 in conference action.

It was a quick start for Conn who forced four saves from Trinity goaltender Devan Bobak in the first three minutes, before opening the scoring at 3:16 on a marker from John Harrington (Braintree, Mass.) with Jack Houser (Arlington, Mass.) and John Russo (South Windsor, Conn.) picking up the assists. The teams traded chances over the next 10 minutes, but it was the Camels that found the next goal. Will Lawrence (Bethesda, Md.) connected with Logan Cleary (Mentor, Ohio) who beat Bobak to make it 2-0 at 13:36. Trinity answered with just over two minutes left on a goal from Aidan D'Urso, but Conn led 2-1 after one.

Both teams generated chances in the opening five minutes, before the Camels were awarded a power play. On the ensuing man-advantage, Rocco Testa-Basi (Holland Patent, N.Y.) converted off assists from William Tripp (Lakeville, Mass.) and Cleary at 6:14. Neither side found the back of the net for the rest of the period, as Conn led 3-1 heading to the third.

The Bantams pushed, looking to cut the deficit in half, and got a goal at 4:38 from Alexander Mozian to do just that. Trinity upped the pressure now trailing by just a goal, but Conn goaltender Kellen Beauton (Colchester, Conn.) and the Camels defense held strong. With just under four minutes remaining, the Bantams had a golden chance to find the equalizer, earning a power play, but once again Conn came up huge. After killing off the penalty, the Camels were able to ice the game as Lawrence found Jack Luca (Milton, Mass.) who potted the puck into the empty Bantams goal with 59 seconds remaining to give Conn the 4-2 win.

Conn outshot Trinity 28-22, while winning 26 of 49 draws.

Beauton was strong in goal, earning the win, making 20 saves on 22 shots. Cleary and Lawrence paced the Camels with two points each, as Cleary notched a goal and an assist, with Lawrence picking up two assists. Harrington, Luca, and Testa-Basi all added one goal, while Houser, Russo, and Tripp each tallied one assist. Conn finished 1-5 on the power play and 4-4 on the penalty kill.

Bobak got the start in net, turning away 24 of 27 shots. Mozian paced the Bantams with a goal and an assist, while D'Urso tallied the second goal. Trinity finished the evening 0-4 on the power play and 4-5 on the penalty kill.

Conn wraps up the season opening two game road trip tomorrow afternoon, taking on Wesleyan University at 3:00 p.m. in Middletown, Conn.