BOX SCORE
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - Connor Olvany scored the game-winning goal
in overtime to lift the Williams College men's ice hockey team to a
3-2 win over Bowdoin in the NESCAC quarterfinals on Saturday.
Bowdoin finishes their '08-'09 season with a 11-12-2 overall record
while the Ephs, now 15-8-2, will play second-seeded Middlebury at
Amherst next Saturday.
The scoring began early in the first period, when at 3:40 junior
forward Colin MacCormack took a pass from senior forward/defenseman
Matt Smith and flung it past Eph freshman goaltender Ryan Purdy for
his 8th on the year. The early goal did little to shake the nerves
of the rookie, as Purdy would stop the rest of the 15 shots he
faced in the opening twenty minutes. Williams responded to the
stellar play of their netminder by mounting some offensive pressure
later in the period, and at 13:18 sophomore forward Ryan Young
gathered a loose puck and wristed it over the shoulder of Polar
Bear goalie Chris Rossi for his ninth this season, tying the score
at 1-1.
The Ephs would take the lead in the second at 13:37, when Troiani
centered the puck from behind the Bowdoin net to senior forward
Matt Draheim. The veteran waited patiently, skated to the open
spot, and ripped a wrister over a baited Rossi for his 9th goal,
giving the Williams a one-goal advantage.
The Ephs started the final frame down a man. Although they
successfully killed this first penalty, they were unable to kill a
second Bowdoin man-advantge just minutes later, as MacCormack
slapped home a one-time feed from rookie Graham Sisson for his
ninth goal, knotting the score at 2-2 with 14:50 left in
regulation.
With 6:33 left, Bowdoin received a five-minute major penalty for
hitting from behind. However, the Polar Bears held their ground,
and killed off the entire penalty, escaping a near game-winner by
Matt Draheim. The Eph forward found a loose puck all alone in front
of the net and made a strong move, but was stopped by Rossi's right
pad.
At 9:10 in the overtime period, sophomore forward Matt Masucci took
the puck out from behind the net and tried a wrap-around wrister.
His shot was knocked down by a Polar Bear defneder, but the loose
puck came to Olvany, who guided it into the open net for the
game-winner.
Rossi made 31 saves in the loss while Purdy stopped 46 in the
victory for Williams.
