NEW LONDON, Conn.– The Connecticut College men's ice hockey team jumped out to an early lead, but ultimately fell to No. 10 Trinity 5-3 on Friday afternoon from Dayton Arena. With the loss, Conn falls to 6-8-1 overall and 4-5 in conference play, while Trinity improves to 11-3-1 on the year and 7-1-1 in NESCAC play.

Trinity opened the contest with the first shot of the game, but Primo Baldassare (Glenolden, Pa.) made the early save. Conn answered with a shot from Quinn Kennedy (Silver Springs, Md.) but he was turned aside. However, just past the middle point of the period, the Camels opened the scoring. Reid Shafer (Coppell, Texas) had his shot saved, but the rebound bounced to Shane Zarcone (Huntington, N.Y.) who buried it to make it 1-0 at 11:57. Four and a half minutes later, Conn doubled the lead. Logan Cleary (Mentor, Ohio) was able to keep a puck in at the blueline, before firing a pass down to Zarcone who went forehand-to-backhand and lifted the puck over Devan Bobak to give the Camels a 2-0 lead after one.

Trinity came out firing in the second period, evening the score within the first 2:15. The Bantams got on the board at 1:47 off a tally from Joseph Harney, before Nichola Siffringer tied the game 30 seconds later. Just five minutes after that, Trinity took their first lead as James Barbour fed Jakob Karpa who put the Bantams in front 3-2 at 7:12. With just over four minutes left in the frame, Conn got a power play and wasted no time evening the score. John Russo (South Windsor, Conn.) won the face-off to Kennedy who had his shot stopped, but the rebound fell right to Russo who fired under the blocker of Bobak to send the game to the third tied at three.

Conn had an early chance to retake the lead, earning a power play four minutes in, but the Camels were unable to capitalize. Trinity retook the lead at 7:35, after a fantastic save from Baldassare, the rebound unfortunately bounced to Ryan Panico who tapped it home to make it 4-3. Exactly midway through the frame, the Bantams got an insurance marker, as a loose puck bounced to Richard Boysen in the slot who rifled a shot off the crossbar and in to make it 5-3. Conn pulled Baldassare late for the extra attacker, but were unable to get any closer, falling 5-3.

Trinity outshot Conn 41-27, while the Camels held a 43-31 edge on face-off wins.

Baldassare got the start in goal, finishing with 36 saves. Zarcone paced the Camels with two goals, while Russo added the third goal, while Cleary, Kennedy, and Shafer all added one assist. Conn blocked 18 shots as a team, with Will Lawrence (Bethesda, Md.) blocking five. Russo led the way in the face-off circle winning 20 draws, while Conn finished 1-4 on the power play and 1-1 on the penalty kill.

Bobak picked up the win in net, finishing with 24 saves. Harney and Karpa led the Bantams with a goal and an assist each, while Trinity finished 0-1 on the power play and 3-4 on the penalty kill.

Conn wraps up the weekend tomorrow night, as the Camels host Wesleyan at 7:30 p.m. in Dayton Arena.