written by: Stella Ramsey '22
HARTFORD, Conn. - The Wesleyan men's ice hockey team and the Trinity Bantams brought the energy to the arena this afternoon as they faced off for the second time this weekend. This well-fought and physical game ended with Trinity on top 6-3. Wesleyan finishes the regular season with an overall 10-11-3 record and 8-7-3 in the NESCAC, earning the fourth-seed for the NESCAC Tournament which is set to begin next weekend.
The Cardinals found their stride early on this afternoon, scoring two goals in the first period. Emmet Powell '23 assisted Go Uemura '23 in the opening minutes of the first period on a powerplay. This is the second game in a row that Uemura '23 has scored against Trinity in the first period. This time on a shorthanded opportunity, Danny Sorabella '22 exploded into the offensive zone on a breakaway. His initial shot was knocked away by Trinity goalie Patrick Pugliese, but he rushed to grab the rebound and shot it back at the net from the goal line for an amazing goal on the penalty kill.
In the final five minutes of the first period, Trinity's Alexander Mozian slipped the puck to his teammate Connor Sundquist from behind the Wesleyan net. Sundquist roofed the puck behind Wesleyan goalie Erik Voloshin's '24 shoulder. This was Sundquist's first goal of the season.
Wesleyan still led 2-1 heading into the second period. The Bantams had a lineup change in the net, replacing Patrick Pugliese with J.P. Mella. Pugliese made five saves and let in two goals in the first period.
Halfway into the second period, Trinity's Paul Selleck took the puck behind the net and reversed it back to Richard Boysen, who found the back of Wesleyan's net to tie up the game. Minutes later, the Bantams found themselves on a powerplay. When the puck popped out into the slot, Theodore Griffin picked it up with poise as he dodged a Wesleyan skater sliding out to block his shot. Griffin then hammered the puck into the back of the net, pulling Trinity into the lead. Nearing the end of the second period, the Bantams were back on a powerplay. Gerard Maretta had his first goal of the game, scoring the rebound off of John Camponenosi's one-timer as the Bantams used a 3-0 second period to take a 4-2 lead heading into the third.
Wesleyan hit the ice hot in the third period with a big hill to climb. Colin Cobb '23 had shot on net in the first couple of seconds, but Mella turned him down. Trinity responded strongly with a fifth goal from Riley Prattson, assisted by Cole Poliziani. But even in the final six minutes, this high-scoring game was not over yet. O'Connor won the offensive zone faceoff back to Uemura, who found the five-hole beneath Mella's pads, scoring his second goal of the game.
With just under four minutes left in the game, the Cardinals pulled their goalie early and nearly jammed one past J.P. Mella in a scrum. But with Voloshin still out of the net in the final seconds of the game, Trinity's Casey Rhodes scored his fifth goal of the season on an empty net.
The Bantams outshot the Cardinals 33-24. Voloshin made 27 saves.
With this loss, Wesleyan dropped in the rankings to fourth place, just behind Williams. The Cardinals will have a home game next weekend to kick off the NESCAC Quarterfinals against the fifth-seed Hamilton Continentals.
