Trinity Men's Ice Hockey Travels To Amherst For NESCAC Semis Friday Night
Hartford, Conn., Mar. 5, 2008 - The No. 4-seeded Trinity College men's ice hockey team, which topped the No. 5-seeded Connecticut College Camels, 3-1, last week, has advanced to the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men's Ice Hockey Championship Semifinals against the top-seeded Amherst College Lord on Friday, Mar. 6 at 7:30 p.m. Amherst, ranked No. 6 in the nation, won their quarterfinal game against the No. 8-seeded Tufts University Jumbos last Saturday to earn the right to host the upcoming match with Trinity. No. 2-seeded Middlebury, ranked No. 8 in the nation, faces No. 3-seeded Williams in the other NESCAC Semifinal contest and the winners will play in the NESCAC Finals on Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. All NESCAC Final Four games will take place at Amherst. The winner of the NESCAC Championship Tournament will determine the league's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for students and children per day and the game will be webcast live at https://www.amherst.edu/athletics/jeffcast.
Trinity, coached by David Cataruzolo (2nd season), is defending its 2008 NESCAC title after winning last year's championship game as the No. 6 seed with a 3-2 victory in double overtime over Middlebury. The Bantams, boasting a 16-8 record, opened the year with a 5-3 loss to the Lord Jeffs, which are 19-4-1 this season, after the teams were tied at 3-3 heading into the final period of action. Sophomore goaltender Wesley Vesprini (Lexington, Mass.) made 18 saves in the win over Connecticut College Saturday, while sophomore forward Egor Petrov ((Novokuznetsk, Russia), senior co-captain Ryan Masucci (Winthrop, Mass.), and junior Richard Hollstein (Pembroke, Mass.) tallied the Bantam goals.
Trinity is second in the league in scoring offense with 3.75 goals a game, while Amherst is third at 3.54 allowed per game. The Lord Jeffs are first in the league and nation in scoring defense, allowing 1.50 goals per game, while the Bantams are second in the league with 2.46 goals allowed per game. Vesprini has 475 saves for a .917 percentage and ranks fourth in NESCAC in goals against average at 2.30. Senior blueliners William Burns (Livonia, Mich.) and Chris Diozzi (Belmont, Mass.) anchor the Bantam defense, which has held its opponents to 205 less shots on goal than Trinity has taken this winter. Diozzi, a co-captain and a semifinalist for the Concannon award as the top American-born Division II/III player in New England, adds six goals and 10 assists, while Burns chips in with three goals and three assists on the offensive end. First-year defenseman Mike DeMayo (Seaford, N.Y.) has been a big contributor on both ends of the ice with seven goals and eight assists. Sophomore forward Adam Houli (Howell, N.J.) leads Trinity in scoring with 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points, while freshman Paul Jaskot (Metheun, Mass.) has 10 goals and 10 assists and Masucci adds nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points apiece. Eleven players on the well-rounded Bantam roster have more than 10 points on the season.
The Bantams are one of only two teams in the NESCAC to win the league championship in its 12-year history, along with Middlebury, as the Bantam won their first NESCAC crown in 2003 Amherst and Trinity have met just once in the NESCAC playoffs, in 1994, when the Bantams shut out the Lord Jeffs, 3-0, in the quarterfinal game.
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