Williamstown, MA–Williams (5-2-1, 4-1-1 NESCAC) beat Hamilton Continentals (4-3-1, 2-2-1 NESCAC) 3-0. Freshman Cosimo Lazzarino posts his first shut-out of his college career.
Today's afternoon game was fast-paced from the start. Both the Ephs and the Continentals came out of the locker room looking for their fifth win of the season. The Hamilton men were offensively stronger than the Ephs with 9 shots on freshman netminder, Cosimo Lazzarino, against the Ephs 5 shots against junior Anthony Tirabessi.
However, echoing last night's game, the Ephs' defending line-up was ironclad and did not let the incoming Continentals setup up a converting opportunity.
The Ephs power play squad was once again sharp and successfully killed off two penalties called against the Ephs (4:29, sophomore Tyler Scott for holdiing and 8:28 senior Connor Meike for interference).
The second period started quickly with an early period goal from the Ephs. At 3:27 senior Roberto Cellini caught the rebound shot moments earlier by classmate Marcus Mollica. The goal came immediately following a dangerous play down at the opposite end of the ice.
Two back to back Eph penalties (7:49, junior Will Somers for slashing and 9:39, Scott for hooking) gave the Continentals a ten-second 5v3 and over three minutes of 5v4. The penalty kill squad for the Ephs, however, did not back down to the challenge. The Ephs were not afraid to use whatever body part to keep the pucks from reach Lazzarino. The Ephs lead the Continentals in blocked shots, 19 to 5.
The strong Eph defensive line continued to block shots through the third period, keeping the Continentals at bay even with most of the play in the Williams zone. The Ephs finally broke through the Hamilton blue line to set up a 2 on 1 late in the third period. The 2 on 1 converted the goal at 15:30 when Fuld's pass bounced off the back of Tirabessi and perfectly in front of Scott. Scott had an empty net to extend the Eph lead to two. Scott was also assisted by classmate, Myles Cunningham.
With time running out, Tirabessi was pulled off the ice with three minutes to play to give the Continentals a man advantage in the final minutes. Reminiscent of last night's game when the Amherst goalie was taken off, the Ephs scored an empty net goal to seal the deal. At 17:40, Max Fuld netted a shot from the Williams defensive zone with the assist from Tyler Scott and sophomore Jack McCool.
"Most importantly for our team is that we take care of ourselves during this upcoming two weeks," head coach Bill Kangas said. "Our guys know how to have balance between hockey and the classroom and we're looking forward to continuing this intensity when we pick back up after the holidays."
The Ephs will take a two week break before continuing their season on the road with a weekend against Oswego 12/29&30.