NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Connecticut College men's ice hockey team returns to the New England Small Conference Athletic Conference (NESCAC) playoffs after one year hiatus, as the Camels travel to take on Tufts University on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. at the Malden Valley Forum.

Head coach Jim Ward's Camels had a strong season, finishing sixth in the NESCAC standings, compiling a 9-13-2 overall record and a 7-11-0 record in conference play, their most conference wins since the 2019-20 season. Tufts claimed their highest finish in program history, finishing third, totaling a 12-9-3 record overall and a 9-7-2 mark in NESCAC action.

The Camels and Jumbos split the regular season series, after a home-and-home battle on February 2nd and 3rd. On February 2nd at Malden Valley Forum, Conn trailed 3-1 with just over three minutes remaining, before senior Kei Yasuda (Nagoya, Japan) cut the deficit to one and first-year Logan Cleary (Mentor, Ohio) scored in the dying seconds to send the game to overtime. First-year Quinn Kennedy (Silver Spring, Md.) gave Conn the extra point roofing a tough angle shot on the power play to give the Camels the 4-3 win. Tufts bounced back the next night in Dayton Arena, claiming a 4-0 win over Conn.

Other highlights from the regular season include the Camels claiming victory at the 58th Annual Codfish Bowl Tournament, the first regular season sweep of Williams in program history, and handing top-seeded Trinity their only conference loss of the season.

Conn has received balanced scoring throughout the season as 18 different Camels have scored a goal, while 21 have tallied at least one point. Kennedy paces the squad with a team-high 21 points on seven goals and 14 assists. Sophomores Rocco Testa-Basi (Holland Patent, N.Y.) and Cole Eichler (King, Ontario) rank second and third in points with 14 and 13 respectively, while being tied for the team lead in goals with eight.

Senior goaltender Sean Dynan (Reading, Mass.) leads the way in net, compiling a 6-9-1 record in 16 starts, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.51 goals against average, and one shutout. Earlier in the season Dynan brought home Most Outstanding Player honors from the Codfish Bowl, and was recently named a semifinalist for the 23rd Joe Concannon Award, recognizing the best American-born player in New England at the D-II/III level.

One of the teams will advance to the semifinals for the first time in a while. Conn will be attempting to get to the NESCAC final four for the first since 2015, while Tufts will look to get back for the first time since 2016. Neither team has played in a conference championship game before.

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