February 22, 2003
Wesleyan Fri nite
1st Period - right from the get go we did not bring our A game, nor our B or C game for that matter - clinching a playoff spot seems to have not spurred us on to better things - we start slow and quickly fall behind at 6:05, and generally get outplayed save for one great pass from Pat Byrne to Van Pelt (with an assist to Sullivan) for an nice tip in to tie it up at 17:17 - shots were 7-10 but that was not a clear indication of the disparity in play
2nd Period - the coaches are confident that we will crank it up a few notches and the play is fairly even for the first half of the period when we get a 5 min pp advantage, unfortunately the wrong team scores and then they score again at 19:51 to make it 3-1 Wesleyan after two - the shots are even but we just are not clicking
3rd Period - Wesleyan adds to our deficit with a quickie at 2:42 and rattle two more shots off the posts before we settle down with 10 minutes to play, down 1-4 - at this point we play a little better and get a goal at 10:57, Jack Thompson from Carceo and Sullivan, to make it a bit more interesting - Thompson turns into a scoring machine with a second goal (a career first for him I would guess) at 17:15 from Hurd and Baker - we pull the goalie with 1:25 left, barely miss on two attempts ( one we thought was in) but finally give up the breakaway with 11 seconds left for the 5-3 final loss
What we proved again that even though we are greatly improved we can lose to most anyone in the league if we don't bring the A game while on the other hand if we do bring our best we can beat most anyone in the league - the league is that good and that tight from top to bottom - the coaches have done a great job as have the players so in spite of the occasional bummers, and this game qualifies, the direction is clearly up
tonight Trinity 7:30, they are #2 in the league behind Middlebury
if the playoffs were to start today it would be next Sat Tu at Midd, Will at Tri, Amh at Col and Ham at Bow stay tuned
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