Dating back to Feb. 10, 2007, the Jeffs and Panthers have played four straight overtime games. In each of them, even a fourth period was not enough to determine a winner. Three extra sessions were required to crown Amherst the 2007 NESCAC Champion, and while fans were then treated to the longest game in NCAA history, a pair of draws in the 2007-08 regular season indicates that another exciting postseason may be in store.
This weekend was an important one, as the two undefeated teams in the NESCAC—then nationally fifth-ranked Amherst and top-ranked Middlebury—met with home ice advantage in the playoffs on the line. Thriving on the hype of another Amherst-Middlebury matchup, U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) named it the Game of the Week, an unusual occurrence for Div. III.
But it wasn’t Amherst’s only game this week. Before the Jeffs could get a crack at Middlebury on Saturday, they had to travel to Williams College Friday evening. The Jeffs forced themselves to focus on bringing their best game against the Ephs, who are tied for last place in the conference. If the Jeffs needed some extra motivation, they had to look no further than the entrance to Williams’ rink. “When we arrived at their rink on Friday they had posters up that said ‘Senior Weekend’ and that put more importance on the game because not only did we have the opportunity to beat Williams, we could do it in their rink, on their senior day,” said co-captain forward Meg Quinn ’08. “It’s just one of those things where you don’t have any mercy for them.”
Amherst had prepared for the game. “As much hype as there was for the Middlebury game, our team actually focused on Williams during practice this past week,” said sophomore goalie Krystyn Elek. The result was a merciless 7-1 Amherst win. The Jeffs scored twice in the first period as sophomore forwards Kate Dennett and Molly Malloy each notched their 10th goals of the season. Williams responded with a short-handed tally to start the second period, but it was all Amherst the rest of the way.
The Jeffs earned a 5-on-3 advantage at the 11-minute mark and sophomore forward Michelle McGann made Williams pay, twice. Her two power-play scores also gave her 10 goals on the season. She then teamed with Dennett to assist co-captain defenseman Julie Radziewicz ’09, putting Amherst up 5-1. In the third period, first-year forward Courtney Hanlon added a goal to the three assists she had already accumulated on the night. Amherst capitalized on another 5-on-3 opportunity as forward CC Wyshnytzky ’11 scored the final goal with eight seconds left. First-year goalie Caroline Hu improved to 7-0-1.
The win was Amherst’s first ever at Williams. “Our program has really come a long way over the past few years,” said McGann. “It’s a great feeling for the seniors and even the underclassmen to be a part of this evolution.”
But even after the historic win, the Jeffs weren’t interested in looking back, and instead finally focused their attention on the Middlebury game. “Almost as soon as the game was over on Friday, we started to think ahead to Saturday’s game,” said Quinn. “Even before we got to [Middlebury], there was a lot more focus on the bus and a feeling that we were in something big.”
After the initial nervousness subsided, the Jeffs were able to enjoy the game. “The game was intensely exciting to play in, and the flow of the game went back and forth between us and Middlebury,” said Hanlon.
“[Middlebury] is a great team and it was a really fast game,” added Radziewicz. “We haven’t had a close, exciting game that makes the adrenaline rush in quite a while so it was really fun to play.”
Contributing to the fast-paced game was a lack of penalties. Amherst only committed two penalties, and killed them both. Middlebury’s only trip to the box came with 13 seconds remaining in overtime. “[Middlebury] has a huge ice surface and the game was played at a very fast pace—both things that suit our style of play,” said Quinn. “With very few penalties or other whistles to break up the flow of the game, we were able to develop a rhythm and just keep coming back on the attack shift after shift.”
The flow of the game was not interrupted by penalties or goals, until the third period. Just past the halfway mark of the period, the Panthers scored to go up 1-0. That prompted Amherst to somehow pick up the pace. “Middlebury’s goal lit a fire under us,” said Elek. “We had been working incredibly hard for the entire game, but our sense of urgency became insane after that.”
“The very next shift, our forwards fore-checked hard and made it clear that we hadn’t given up yet,” added Quinn. Less than 2:30 later, the Jeffs’ hard work paid off. Radziewicz found the equalizer during a scrum in front of the net, with assists going to first-year forwards Braidie Campbell and Megan Curry. It was the defenseman’s third goal of the season. “[Scoring the tying goal was] amazing,” said Radziewicz. “I don’t score a lot so to be able to contribute in such a huge game against my number one rival was awesome and surreal.”
Amherst carried the momentum from that goal and dominated the rest of the game and the overtime period, but the score remained 1-1. “At the end of the overtime, I think that both teams really wanted to play more,” said Quinn. “There’s a mutual respect between our teams that makes any meeting very intense, but also very fun. I hope that we get to see them again this season.”
In the meantime, Amherst faces a home-and-home series with Connecticut College this weekend. Though they are undefeated in the NESCAC, the Jeffs are in second place behind Middlebury. “Even though we are still one point behind [Middlebury] in the NESCAC [standings], there is still one weekend left in [regular season] NESCAC play and anything can happen,” said junior forward Lindsey Harrington.
The seeding for the NESCAC Tournament will be finalized on Saturday, with fans and players anticipating an Amherst-Middlebury rematch. “Is anyone ready to see another triple overtime game?” asked Elek. “I feel like that may be what it comes down to.”