NEW LONDON, Conn. – Jack Luca (Milton, Mass.) scored with 58 seconds remaining to lift the Connecticut College men's ice hockey defeated visiting Hamilton College 3-2 on Friday night from Dayton Arena. With the win, Conn improves to 9-10-2 overall and 7-8-0 in NESCAC play, while Hamilton falls to 13-7-1 overall and 8-6-1 in conference action.
Conn (9-10-2, 7-8-0 NESCAC) opened the scoring just three minutes into the contest. Steven Ardagna (Roswell, Ga.) found Cole Eichler (King, Ontario) who played a perfect pass to Rocco Testa-Basi (Holland Patent, N.Y.), making no mistake on the breakaway to put the Camels up 1-0. Just over four minutes later, at 7:11 Hamilton (13-7-1, 8-6-1 NESCAC) tied the game on a tally from Jackson Krock.
The Continentals took their first lead of the contest two minutes later when Alex Danis collected a loose puck, firing it home to make it 2-1 Hamilton at 9:24. With the teams playing 4-on-4, Pete Stanger (Bathurst, New Brunswick) fed a pass to Andrew Eberling (Mount Laurel, N.J.), who fired a shot over the shoulder of Jack Grant, tying the game at 13:20. Neither side scored for the remainder of the period, as the score stayed tied at two after one.
The pace of play picked up in the second period, as there were multiple stretches of significant time without a whistle. The Camels had the better chances in the middle frame to take the lead, but the game headed to the third period tied at two.
Conn continued their strong play to open the third but their efforts were thwarted by Grant and the Continentals. With just over five minutes left, Hamilton pushed for the go-ahead marker, firing off three shots in the span of a minute and a half, but Sean Dynan (Reading, Mass.) kept it even, setting the stage for Luca. Quinn Kennedy (Silver Spring, Md.) fired off a shot that was saved, but Luca raced to corral the rebound. Luca fed a pass behind the net to Kennedy, who returned the favor, with Luca firing the puck past Grant to make it 3-2. Hamilton pulled the goalie for the extra attacker, but the Camels shut the door, coming away with the 3-2 win.
Conn outshot Hamilton 41-25, while the Continentals held a slim 31-28 edge on face-off wins.
Dynan picked up another win in net, finishing with 23 saves. Kennedy led the way with two points on two assists, while Eberling, Luca, and Testa-Basi all recorded one goal, with Ardagna, Eichler, and Stanger adding one assist. Testa-Basi notched six shots on goal, while John Russo (South Windsor, Conn.) won nine face-offs. The Camels blocked 11 shots as a team, led by two from Kareem Alazem (McLean, Va.) and Will Winship (Andover, Mass.) while going 1-1 on the penalty kill.
Grant finished with 38 saves on the evening in net. Danis and Krock tallied the two goals, while the Continentals went 0-1 on the power play.
Conn wraps up play at Dayton Arena tomorrow afternoon, as the Camels host Amherst College at 3:00 p.m. for senior day.
