NEW LONDON, Conn. – A second period one-timer from
Liam Donelan '23 at the point went bar-down and proved to be the difference in a 2-1 win for the Wesleyan men's hockey team on the road against Connecticut College. Wesleyan (10-2-2, 6-1-2 NESCAC) extends their unbeaten streak to seven games while the Camels (2-12, 0-9 NESCAC) have lost five straight.
In a back-and-forth game dominated by the two goaltenders throughout, it was going to take something special to break a 1-1 deadlock and Donelan provided just that for the Cardinals. After
DJ Dixon '24 won a faceoff in the Camels' defensive end,
Jake Lachance '23 sent the puck in deep for
Ethan Davidson '26 who managed to keep possession despite several stick checks from Camel skaters. One last nudge of the puck from Davidson went to Donelan at the point who wound up and blasted a one-timer that went bar-down, hitting the goaltender Cam Fernandez's water bottle into the air and sending the Cardinals into the lead.
Conn. College had a late second period flurry, as the Camels hemmed the puck in the Cardinals defensive end for more than two minutes but saw all four shots on-goal turned aside by
Erik Voloshin '24 who was outstanding in net once again for Wesleyan.
Voloshin totaled 29 saves on the night, including 13 in the first period alone, as he combined with the Cardinal defense on a shutdown performance throughout. The third period saw the Camels go on the power play twice, including an opportunity in the final 1:21 of the game that saw Conn. pull Hernandez and make it a 6-on-4 power play, but nothing got through. Wesleyan limited the Camels to just one shot in that final man-up opportunity and the horn eventually sounded on a 2-1 Cardinal win.
Scoring the opening goal of the game was
Henry Carlson '25 as the sophomore was on the receiving end of a successful forecheck from
Kyle Anderson '24. With the puck falling right to Carlson in front, he made no mistake slotting home his first career goal.
The Camels responded just over three minutes later in the first period as Rocco Testa-Basi broke up a breakout in the Cardinals' defensive end. With numbers in front, Testa-Basi centered for Michael DiMascolo who fired in a one-timer shot from just above the faceoff dot to knot the score at 1-1.
Conn. held a 30-25 advantage in shots while the Camels recorded 35 faceoff wins compared to 23 for the Cardinals. Voloshin, however, was outstanding as he made 29 saves, giving him at least 28 saves in six straight appearances. Lachance's assist on Donelan's game-winner upped his season total to 13 as he continues to lead all defenseman across the nation in points with 18 through 13 games played.
Wesleyan continues a three-game road swing on Saturday, with a trip to Tufts on deck. Opening puck drop is set for 3:00 PM.
