Trinity Men's Ice Hockey NCAA Run Comes To An End At Elmira
Pine Valley, N.Y. - Freshman defenseman Karl Linden
(Stockholm, Sweden) scored two goals to lead the Elmira
College Soaring Eagles to a 6-1 victory over the visiting Trinity
College Bantams in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division III
Men's Ice Hockey Championship Tournament this evening at the Murray
Athletic Center. Elmira, ranked No. 4 in the nation,
improves to 20-3-5 and advances to the semifinal round against
Plattsburgh State on Saturday, March 22 at Herb Brooks Arena in
Lake Placid, N.Y. The finals will take place in Lake Placid
on Mar. 23. The Bantams, ranked No. 13 nationally, close the
year at 16-11-2 with their first loss in four games.
"We took some early penalties that put us in an extremely difficult
hole, particularly against a team with that level of skill," said
Trinity Head Coach David Cataruzolo. "At
some point, we will reflect on this, but we are very disappointed
in tonight's outcome. It has been a very special run for
us."
Elmira scored three times in the first period, including the game's
first goal by Linden after senior captain Michael Richard
(LaSalle, Quebec) won a face-off in the right circle and
fed Linden for the quick score 5:47 into the contest. The
puck spent the majority of its time in Trinity defensive zone in
the first stanza, although Bantam sophomore forward Naoto
Hamashima (Tokyo, Japan) got off a decent shot on a
wrap-around from behind the goal on the right side that was knocked
away by Elmira sophomore goal Casey Tuttle (Chelsea,
Maine). The Bantams were whistled for three
penalties in the middle of the first, and Elmira took advantage
with one goal on a 5x4 situation by junior defenseman Nic
Dumoulin (Prevost, Quebec) and a breakaway score by
sophomore Rusty Masters (Grafton, Ontario) for a
3-0 Soaring Eagle lead at the first break.
Elmira continued its pressure early in the second stanza, hitting
two posts in the first three minutes. The Bantam offense
regrouped and put several shots on Tuttle during a couple of early
power play opportunities, but none got past. Elmira junior
Derrick Ryan (Fournier, Ontario) took a nice pass
off the boards down the right side by freshman forward Rick
Schrank (Newmarket, Ontario) and made a nice move from
right to left to beat Bantam freshman goalie Wesley
Vesprini (Lexington, Mass.) for a 4-0 Soaring Eagle
lead. Elmira added another goal late in the second, but
Trinity came out strong to start the third frame, as junior
co-captain forward Ryan Masucci (Winthrop, Mass.)
and freshman forward Adam Houli (Howell, N.J.)
each had shots get past Tuttle only to carom the goal.
Hamashima secured a full season of not being shutout when he
flipped the puck over the net from behind off a Soaring Eagle
defender and into the goal. The Elmira defense held strong
the rest of the way and the home team added its sixth goal with
3:43 remaining in the contest.
Vesprini finished with 22 saves and Tuttle stopped 27 shots,
including 10 in the final period. Houli led Trinity with six
shots on net. Trinity had a two-game winning streak against
Elmira snapped, and finishes the year with its highest win total
since 2005's Final Four campaign (21).
Trinity senior co-captain forward Dan Maturi (North
Kingstown, R.I.), who played in the Final Four as a
rookie, stated, "We started the year as an immature bunch of guys
without a whole lot of leadership, but at a certain point of the
season we all decided to become a team."
