Men's Ice Hockey Championship Field Set

Hamilton Scores Top Seed on Final Day of Regular Season

HADLEY, Mass. – For the first time in program history, Hamilton College has earned the top seed in the NESCAC Men's Ice Hockey Championship. The Continentals took care of business during a thrilling end to the regular season, a recurring trend in recent years, with back-to-back road wins.

Hamilton will serve as one of four quarterfinal hosts in the 2011 edition of the tournament, which begins on Saturday, Feb. 26., and if the Continentals advance they will host the semifinals and final on March 5-6. Ticket information for the quarterfinals shall be released by the hosts in the upcoming week.

The final week of the regular season was a near carbon-copy of last year's, the only difference being Hamilton (14-6-4, 11-4-4 NESCAC) leading a pack of seven teams contending for the top spot in the conference instead of Bowdoin. The Continentals controlled their own destiny and left nothing to chance on the final weekend, overcoming UMass Boston on Friday, 5-4, before putting away Babson, 3-1, to finish atop the league standings for the first time ever. The pair of wins extended Hamilton's unbeaten streak to eight games and pushed its record to 9-2-4 since the start of the New Year. The Continentals have earned a reputation as road warriors this season, boasting an 11-3-1 mark away from Sage Rink and a 4-1-4 record against NESCAC foes. The lone setback to a conference member, though, came at the hands of Hamilton's quarterfinal opponent, eighth-seeded Wesleyan (9-11-3, 8-10-1 NESCAC), by a 3-2 score all the way back at the start of the season on Nov. 20. The Cardinals are an even 3-3-0 over their last six games, most recently skating past the Univ. of New England by a 14-1 decision on Saturday afternoon. Although Wesleyan dropped 11 of 24 outings this year, the Cardinals managed to stay with opponents, as eight of the 11 losses were by two goals or less. When the two teams meet for the first time in tournament play on Feb. 26, Hamilton will look to make its second consecutive semifinal appearance and sixth overall while Wesleyan will be in search of its first-ever first round win.

Williams (14-7-3, 11-6-2 NESCAC) matched its highest finish in the conference standings thanks to a 7-2 win over Skidmore combined with losses by Amherst and Middlebury on Saturday. The second-seeded Ephs raced out to an impressive start to the year as they posted a 7-0-1 record and held down first place in the league at the semester break. Unfortunately, the good fortune of the holiday season did not carry over into January for Williams as it went 3-5-1 in the first month of the year and fell from the top spot. The Ephs managed to overcome adversity and finished the final three weeks 4-2-1, earning home ice in the first round for the third year in a row. Williams will have its work cut out for it when it faces seventh-seeded Trinity (11-9-4, 9-8-2 NESCAC). The Bantams entered the final weekend of the regular season riding a five-game winning streak and in the hunt for home ice in the quarterfinals, but 5-4 setback to the Univ. of New England on Friday put those plans just out of reach. The Ephs won the lone regular season meeting between the two in Williamstown back on Jan. 15 by a 5-0 score. History may be on Trinity's side when it comes to the NESCAC playoffs. The Bantams, who claimed conference crowns in 2003 and 2008, have advanced to the semifinals in eight of the last nine years and hold a 2-0 record over the Ephs in tournament play with back-to-back first round victories in 2002-03.

Although defending NESCAC champion Middlebury (11-7-6, 9-5-5 NESCAC) finished in a three-way tie for third in the NESCAC standings with Amherst and Bowdoin, the Panthers had the advantage over the Lord Jeffs and the Polar Bears for the third seed with the head-to-head tie-breaker. Middlebury had a sluggish start to the season before catching fire midway through January in one of its characteristic runs to the finish, going 7-2-3 to close out the conference slate. The Panthers will look to rebound in the quarterfinals following a 3-2 setback to Castleton that snapped a six-game unbeaten streak when they take on sixth-seeded Colby (11-10-2, 10-7-2 NESCAC) in a battle of hot teams. The Mules were 1-5-1 in league play and 3-8-1 following a rough road trip to Vermont during the first weekend of 2011. Instead of folding, Colby turned things around and finished an impressive 9-2-1 down the stretch, most recently recording a 1-0 victory at New England Col. on Friday and a 5-2 decision over St. Anselm on Saturday. The Mules will face a challenge from its first round opponent, as the Panthers boast a 27-3 lifetime playoff record, have reached the final every year the tournament has been held, and own eight conference crowns. Middlebury is 3-0 against Colby with all three meetings coming in the semifinals, the most recent in 2007.

The final quarterfinal contests pits fourth-seeded Amherst (12-8-4, 10-6-3 NESCAC) against fifth-seeded Bowdoin (15-7-1, 11-7-1 NESCAC) for the second time in less than a month. The Polar Bears held a 2-0 lead over the host Jeffs midway through the second period on Feb. 4, however three unanswered Amherst goals sunk Bowdoin in a 3-2 final. The loss was the second in what turned into a five-game winless streak for the Polar Bears, dropping them from atop the conference standings to an eventual fifth-place finish. For Amherst, the victory was part of a 5-2-0 end to the regular season and the right to host a quarterfinal for the fourth year in a row. Two years ago, the Lord Jeffs recorded the best season in program history, going 16-2-1 in league play and winning their first NESCAC title. A year later, it was the Polar Bears who were atop the conference following the regular season with a 14-4-1 mark, however their dreams of a conference crown were dashed by Middlebury for a fourth time. Bowdoin has the lead when it comes to the all-time tournament series for these two first round foes at 4-1, as the most recent match came during the 2007 semis.

2011 NESCAC MEN'S ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
Quarterfinals - Saturday, Feb. 26 at Higher Seeds
No. 6 Colby at No. 3 Middlebury - 1:00 p.m.
No. 5 Bowdoin at No. 4 Amherst - 1:00 p.m.
No. 8 Wesleyan at No. 1 Hamilton - 3:00 p.m.
No. 7 Trinity at No. 2 Williams - 4:00 p.m.

Semifinals - Saturday, March 5 at Highest Remaining Seed
Highest remaining seed vs. Lowest remaining seed - 1:00 p.m.
Remaining first round winners - 4:00 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, March 7
Semifinal winners - 2:00 p.m.