"Since it was the third time we played, we had a good idea of what they were going to do," said junior forward Brad Craigen. "We didn't take them lightly."
The story of the game was Bantam goalie Douglas Kiselius. Kiselius played hard and saved all 30 shots he faced for his second consecutive shutout.
"This may have been the best game we played against them all year," said Craigen. "However, their goalie was the difference."
Kiselius has been excellent between the pipes all season, posting a .918 save percentage, but has further increased his level of play in recent games. With the shutout, Kiselius extended his shutout streak to over 137 minutes.
Trinity punched its first goal past Amherst goalie Dan Smith '07 halfway through the first period. Smith made the initial save off a shot from Bryan Crabtree, but Richard Masucci managed to bang home the rebound. Smith was unfazed by the early goal, and later in the period foiled two breakaway chances by Masucci, making a fantastic glove save on the second.
Bantam forward Kevin Hathaway scored the second goal of the game when he pushed a puck skittering across the crease into the back of the net. The Amherst defense failed to clear the puck, and after successive swing-and-misses by both teams, Hathaway was able to capitalize and give the Bantams a 2-0 lead.
The 2-0 lead was more than enough for the Bantams, as Kiselius turned aside chance after chance late in the second and third periods. The Jeffs could not break through the Bantam defense. Goalie Smith was pulled with 1:46 to go in the third period, but Bantam forward Cameron Smith added an empty netter just nine seconds later.
Although disappointed in the loss, sophomore forward Rob Balanda felt that the game had its positives. "We played pretty well," he said. "We weren't able to capitalize effectively when we had the chances."
The team was disheartened by its early exit from the tournament. "We were definitely disappointed going out of the tournament this quickly," said Craigen. "We wished we could have gone farther with our talent. We were really coming together as a team at the end of the season."
The Bantams will face the Colby College White Mules in the NESCAC semifinal on March 6. To make it to this matchup, the White Mules defeated fifth-seeded Williams College 3-1 behind Nick Bayley's 14th goal of the season.
The other semifinal matchup will take place between Hamilton College and Middlebury College on Middlebury's ice. The sixth-seeded Hamilton Continentals shut out the third-seeded Bowdoin College Polar Bears 4-0 to make it to the semifinals. Hamilton goalie Rob MacNeil saved a total of 40 shots to take the win. Middlebury successfully defended its number-two national ranking with a 7-1 victory over Tufts University. The Panthers limited the Jumbos to a mere 13 shots on goal while peppering Tufts goalie Ben Crapser with 54. The NESCAC Championship is scheduled for March 7.
Despite the first-round NESCAC Tournament loss, the Jeffs feel that their season ended on an upswing. "We started out [the season] great, then we had a slump in the middle. We started playing better towards the end," said Balanda.
Nevertheless, the Trinity game was the final contest for seniors Josh Hoffman, Mike Kreger, Chris Norqual and co-captain John McNicholas. All four played a major role in the Amherst hockey program and are long-time fixtures in the lineup. They proved to be excellent leaders for the team this year, carrying the Jeffs all the way to 11th in the nation before the team entered a midseason slump. Their play and leadership will be difficult to replace.
"[The team is] losing a few key seniors, but the upcoming senior class will be looked at to lead the way [next season]," said Balanda.
The 2004-05 edition of the Jeffs should be able to improve on this year's results. "Our biggest strength next year is our good core of returning players," said Craigen.
Amherst will return its three leading scorers, junior co-captain Beau Kretzman and sophomores AJ Greco and Steve Nelson. Kretzman and Greco shared the team lead in goals with 13 each. Kretzman was the leading point-scorer with 27, while the sophomore duo followed with 21 apiece.
In addition to a talented returning offensive force, Amherst has youth on the defensive end of the ice as well. First-year goalies Smith and Josh Fillman saw nearly every minute of action between the pipes this season, and while starting defenders Norqual and McNicholas graduate, first-years Brandon Zangel, Trevor Calamel and Erik Lund played significant minutes along with junior Bill Jenkins.
Next season should also be an opportunity for this season's first-years to play a more significant role on the team. Although there are definite holes to fill, Amherst should continue to improve and sit in the national ranks again.