January 21, 2007

Fri night vs. #2 in the league Bowdoin who just beat Middlebury 6-2 ------ we open the game with an immediate PP but allow a shorthanded goal at 1:58 to get behind right away - Bowdoin goes up 2-0 at 6:14 but Matt Ryder gets his first goal of the season at 8:14 from Ben Kirtland only to see Bowdoin score again at 9:47 and again on a PP at 17:10 to take a 4-1 lead into the second period ----------- we come out playing better and get a goal Brian Bailey (2) from Matt Dalton and Kirtland at 2:23 - we then repeat what has been bad habit by giving up a goal 22 seconds later, for a 3 goal lead again and a seeming backbreaker - not so quick - we get a break with a 5 on 3 and get one back at 5:28 Kurt Hertzog (3) from Greg McCarthy and Doug Wilson and score an even up goal at 11:32 McCarthy (4) from Joe Cappellano and Joe Milo - we play well for the rest of the period and go into the third down one ------ this becomes the most exciting period of the season from our standpoint - Hertzog (4) scores again at 3:16 from McCarthy and Myles Neumann to tie it up and we go ahead at 5:57 Dalton from Wilson and Neumann - then it is up and down, Azat is great in net ( he came in early in the second period), both teams are flying but neither can score - in the end John Murphy (4) gets a open net goal at 19:05 at that raps up a 7-5 victory ------ we once again skated 9 freshman though we lost one, David Antonelli, to a shoulder injury joining fellow Belmont Hiller Greg O'Connell on the sidelines ----- game pucks went to Azat and Dalton, and Ryder for his first goal

Had a large Bowdoin contingent at the game making for our biggest crowd of the season - also nice to see quite a few alums at the game

Colby on Saturday was a different story - they are a very good team right on a par with Bowdoin - we started the game playing pretty well and seemed headed to a 0-0 game after one but a major penalty put us short for 5 minutes and they quickly popped in 2 goals for the 2-0 lead ---- the second period we weren't playing as well, but were staying in the game with Azat in goal playing well again - we score on a PP at 9:15 Crosby (3) from Murphy to make it 2-1, however Colby gets one before the period ends for the 3-1 lead, not insurmountable if we play well ------- such was not the case, Colby scores at 1:32 and 11:27 to pretty much put things away ---- at the 13:05 mark we get 4 penalties, 1 minor, 1 major and two games so we are pretty much shorthanded the rest of the game ---- we get a shorthanded goal McCarthy (5) from Milo while Colby racks up 2 more PP goals for the 7-2 final

Obviously a weekend of very good highs and not so good lows - by the way all the majors you see called are invariably hitting from behind, you can't do it and very dangerous against the boards - against Bowdoin we were at our best for 2/3 of the game, that shows what we can do - it should help the psyche of the players and us - we should have some very close games over the next four weeks

next up Johnson and Wales Tues nite 7:30 for a non league contest and Hamilton on Fri at 7:30 and Amherst on Sat at 4:00 for two big NESCAC games

- come on down, Ben

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