Amherst again went on the road, battling ECAC powerhouse Norwich University, and, unfortunately, was never able to get into full gear, falling to 7-0. The 15th-ranked Cadets used four second period goals to power the offense en route to the shutout win in their home opener. Norwich opened the scoring 45 seconds into the game and never looked back. Rick Cleaver scored two goals while Jason Wilson, Garrett Winder, Nikita Kashirsky, Mike Serba and Rico Piatelli all added scores in the win. Winder and Serba each had two assists in the game as well. Jeff Knapp made 16 stops for Norwich in the shutout, while Amherst goaltender Josh Fillman '07 managed 37 saves on a busy night between the pipes.
"They are one of the top teams in the country, and the combination of their [previous] two-game losing skid, as well as [the motivation of] their home opener, led to some very inspired play from their team," said captain forward Jack Greeley '06. "We were never able to get anything going. It was a disappointing 60 minutes and hopefully we don't have to experience that again."
Looking to bounce back, the Jeffs turned their attention to St. Michaels College the following afternoon. Although Amherst controlled much of the game and held the lead until the final few minutes, the teams finished in a stalemate at 2-2. Sophomore forward Andrew Schremp gave the Jeffs an early lead, notching his second goal of the season off an assist from junior forward Trevor Calamel on the power play. Amherst held onto that lead until the third period when St. Michaels' Ryan Mero scored during a five minute man advantage off helpers from Jared Silver and Nick Dancey to knot the game at one apiece.
Amherst answered two minutes later when Greeley buried his first score of the season, putting the Jeffs back on top. Schremp and rookie forward Brendan Powers added assists on the play. Amherst relinquished the lead with only three minutes to play when Jonathan Perez scored off assists from Silver and Dancey.
The teams headed to an overtime session where St. Michaels earned a power play but Amherst goaltender Dan Smith '08 turned aside all three shots in the frame to secure a point on the road. Smith grabbed 35 stops for the Jeffs while St. Michaels' Erik Smith grabbed 21 saves.
Amherst recorded 12 penalties in the game, spending more than half of the ice time short-handed.
But tough penalty killing by the Jeffs held the Purple Knights to a single power-play score. Amherst currently boasts a 92.1 percent penalty-killing record.
"Penalties continued to kill us in this game, and this prevented us from having any flow against an inferior team. Many of the penalties were from aggressive play, but we must learn to play a more disciplined game rather than constantly looking for big hits," Greeley said. "A tie on Saturday felt like a loss; although Smith played his best game of the year. We had several high-quality chances in the game and also in OT, and unfortunately we couldn't convert. We will work hard in practice this week and prepare for a very tough opponent on Saturday."
Amherst is in the midst of a December-long road trip and heads to Hobart College on Dec. 10 at 4 p.m. for its next contest. The Jeffs will enjoy a 21-day layoff until the Middlebury Classic over New Years' weekend.
NESCAC Notes
Top-ranked Middlebury College earned a pair of wins over Norwich and Plattsburgh State Universities to remain unbeaten. Colby College's T.J. Kelly is the conference's top scorer thus far with 10 goals and four assists.