Needing wins in both games to solidify their position as one of the elite teams in the NESCAC, the Jeffs dominated Bowdoin College in a 6-1 blowout win on Friday night, and on Saturday afternoon they won a close game against Colby College, 3-2.
"We put the Middlebury game behind us," said Rob Hill '01. "We knew there was a lot at stake over the weekend."
In the first game of their weekend set, the Jeffs dominated the first period, starting with a 2-0 lead.
Bob Miele '02, who was the United States College Hockey Online National Player of the Week two weeks ago, started off the scoring for the Jeffs just over six minutes into the opening frame. Greg Carr '02 assisted on the play.
With just over nine minutes left before the first break, Tri-captain Gregg DiNardo '01 added what would eventually be the game-winning goal. Fellow Tri-captain Chris Orszulak '01 and Ben Kennedy '01 each had an assist on the play.
In the second period the Jeffs did not let their guard down, scoring two more goals before the Polar Bears tallied their first goal. Exactly one minute into the period the Jeffs got on the board again.
This time it was Orszulak taking a pass from DiNardo to convert on the scoring chance. John McNicholas '04, who has played an important role on the Jeff defense all season, was given the second helper on the goal.
DiNardo continued to shine in the game as he added his second goal. Orszulak and Hill added assists on the play.
Midway through the second period the Polar Bears capitalized on a Jeff penalty and scored their first goal of the game, but the Jeffs quickly answered with a power-play goal of their own. Stephen Tornabene '01 increased the Jeff lead to four after he scored off of passes from Justin Pitrack '03 and Hill.
In the third period the Jeffs scored their final goal, and again DiNardo had a hand in the play. Hill, after dishing out two assists of his own, took a pass from DiNardo and put the puck in the back of the net. Jim Smith '01 also had an assist.
Nick Rieser '01 played another outstanding game in net for the Jeffs, allowing only one goal on 24 shots. For his excellence over the weekend Rieser was named the NESCAC Player of the Week, the third Jeff to receive that honor this season.
"Nick has stepped it up recently," said Hill. "He has been playing well all season long, but as of late he has been hot. The key to winning in the playoffs is a hot goaltender, and we have one right now."
In Saturday's matinee matchup Rieser turned in another dominating performance, making a season high 37 saves in a much tighter game against Colby.
In the seniors' final game at Orr Rink, Colby took the early lead, scoring just over five minutes into the matchup. Bobby Nagle and Evan Kearns combined for the goal, and the Jeffs were forced to battle back from a goal down.
Six minutes later the Jeffs had an answer for the White Mules, knotting the score at one. Miele found Carr with a pass, and Carr put the shot into the top left corner of the net for his tenth goal of the season.
But five minutes later the Mules had an answer of their own. Jeff Fishbone regained a one goal lead for Colby, and Amherst headed into the first break trailing 2-1.
The Jeffs played their best period of the day. Smith ignited the Jeffs in the period, knotting the game at two. Four minutes into the frame Smith-the team leader with 12 goals-intercepted a pass in the Colby defensive zone and wristed a shot past the Colby netminder.
Still riding the momentum from Smith's goal, the Jeffs added another tally in the period. Pitrack scored the eventual game-winning goal just under nine minutes into the period with assists going to Mike Kreger '01 and McNicholas.
But Colby did not quit. Throughout the rest of the game, the Mules attacked the Amherst net, only to be frustrated by Rieser each time. The biggest save of the game came with 2:18 left when Rieser stoned a Colby forward on a close range shot.
Before the weekend matches Rieser was ranked fifth in the nation in goals-against-average, at 2.13, 12th in save percentage, .916, and with the two wins he improved to 10-3-2 on the season.
"I think the way we have been preparing for games during the week has helped my play a lot," said Rieser. "We have been doing a lot of conditioning early in the last few weeks and that has helped us play better in the Saturday game. I think I was trying to do too much early in the season, and I am now just trying to do the simple little things and I have been playing much better lately."
With the win the Jeffs moved into a second-place tie with the Mules in the NESCAC standings. Amherst has a better overall record than Colby, but in the conference each team has 23 points.
"It meant a lot to us to win these last two home games," said Rieser. "The seniors really took it personally this weekend and I think the fact that so many of our parents were here for it was an added incentive."
This Friday Amherst faces Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), but their focus will be in the next day's matchup.
In another matinee game the Jeffs will travel to Williams College to face the hated Ephs on Saturday. While the Ephs have had a dominant team the last few seasons, this year they appear vulnerable. The Ephs fell to 9-12-1 on the season after they were thrashed 6-1 by Middlebury.
However, this is a game in which records are unimportant, and both teams will be primed to face each other.
"Our mindset is to win out the regular season," said Rieser. "The bottom line is, we are all up for the Williams game, but we have to win Friday against MCLA before we get to that point."
"None of the seniors have beaten Williams," added Hill. "Even though they are having an off year they will be pumped up for us. We will not take them lightly. We want to beat them, and beat them big."