MIDDLETOWN, CT- Men's hockey puts through a late goal to defeat Amherst 4-3 Saturday night. Matt Zandi '22 received a feed out front from Emmet Powell '23 beating the Mammoths' goaltender for the game sealing goal. The Wesleyan defense would hold for the remaining three minutes, giving them their 2^nd victory in as many days. The Cardinals are now 3-3-1, while the Mammoths fall to 2-4.
 
HIGHLIGHTS:

• Before the people in the stands had even sat down, there was a goal. Amherst's Ryan Tucker took the long pass from behind his own net and sniped a shot past Wesleyan's Marc Smith '24 for the first goal of the game
• The Cardinals capitalized on two power play chances later in the period. Tyler Levine '22 came through on the first powerplay, evening the score at one. On the second power play it was Wiggle Kerbrat '23 who delivered, scoring off the assists by Colin Cobb '23 and Matt Zandi '22
• It was a physical contest from start to finish, with multiple scuffles before faceoffs. The 2^nd quarter saw many of these, along with four penalties. Both teams came up empty on their power play chances, however Wesleyan broke through in the final three minutes of the period. Wiggle Kerbrat intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and found Tyler Levine who scored his second goal of the game to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead going into the final period
• Connor Merrill opened up the 3^rd period with a goal off some nice passing from the Mammoths. They would score again later in the period off of another man-up situation. Pieter von Steinbergs put through the equalizer with five minutes remaining which looked like it was going to send us into overtime. It was Amherst's only power play score of the night (1/4)
• Amherst's Stephen Rex went to the box for slashing with only four minutes remaining giving the Cardinals a chance to end the game in regulation. They took little time to do so, with swift puck movement in the attacking zone before Matt Zandi ripped a shot from just inside the blue line. It hit the back of the net and the Cardinals had the lead
• Amherst would pull their goalie with just over two minutes left in an attempt to score the equalizer, but the Wesleyan defense would hold strong turning away the only shot the Mammoths were able to manufacture. Amherst would get a late penalty of their own in the final minute detouring any chance of tying the game up

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Tyler Levine scores his first two goals of the season
• Wesleyan scored on three of their six power plays opportunities, including the game winning goal
• Matt Zandi had two assists to go with his game winning goal. He now has two goals and three assists over his past two games
• Marc Smith tied a season high with 20 saves

 
WHAT'S NEXT:
Wesleyan will be off until next Friday the 10^th where they travel to New Hampshire to play Plymouth State (6-1-1).