Trinity Men's Ice Hockey Snaps Six-Game Skid Against Norwich, Wins Ninth In A Row
Hartford, Conn. - Sophomore forward Zach Wissman (Guilford, Vt.) scored the game-winning goal midway through the third period to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 4-2 win over the visiting Norwich University Cadets in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)/Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East men's ice hockey action this evening at Williams Rink. The Bantams improve to 11-3 overall and 8-2 in the NESCAC with their ninth consecutive victory, while the Cadets, ranked No. 12 in the nation, drop to 8-5-2 overall and 6-3-1 in the ECAC East with their first loss in four games. Trinity also snaps a six-game losing streak against Norwich.
Wissman's clincher was a floater from just outside the red line that Norwich junior goalie Ryan Klingensmith (Morton, Pa.) reached for chest-high and missed with his glove. The goal came just 11 seconds after a potential go-ahead goal by the Cadets was nullified because the net had come off. Trinity junior forward Richard Hollstein (Pembroke, Mass.) sealed the win with a hard wrist shot from the left wing past Klingensmith with 4:45 left in the game.
Trinity opened the scoring just 18 seconds into the first period when senior forward Riley Hicks (Calgary, Alberta) sent a shot toward the goal from the right corner that rolled and bounced and found its way over the line. Norwich answered on a shot from the left wing by senior forward Nikita Kashirsky (Moscow, Russia) with 2:42 remaining before the first break.
The Bantams went ahead, 2-1, in the second period when sophomore forward Egor Petrov (Novokuznetsk, Russia) made a nice pass in traffic in front of the net to senior co-captain forward Ryan Masucci (Winthrop, Mass.) who converted the power play chance. Sophomore goaltender Wesley Vesprini (Lexington, Mass.) preserved the lead in the final minute of the second, stopping Cadet sophomore forward Chad Anderson (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) on a one-on-one breakaway. Vesprini stopped Anderson again on a shot from point blank range during a Norwich power play early in the third frame, but Cadet freshman forward Emmond Bell (Nepean, Ontario) tied the game at 2-2 with 18:23 on the clock. Vesprini finished with 29 saves and Klingensmith had 31 stops, while Petrov collected two assists for the Bantams.
