MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Wesleyan men's hockey team suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss at the hands of Little Three rival Amherst on Friday night from Spurrier-Snyder Rink. The Cardinals (11-4-2, 7-2-2 NESCAC) still manage to pick up one point in the NESCAC standings, giving Wesleyan 25 on the season, good enough for third in the league standings. Amherst (12-3-2, 10-1 NESCAC) are now 2.5 points clear of Trinity, sitting first place in the NESCAC through 11 league games.
 
After two periods of scoreless hockey, the Mammoths were first to get on the board as Quinton Fox sprung Ryan Tucker on a shorthanded opportunity 7+ minutes into the frame. With an odd-man rush going the other way, Tucker shot to shoot on Erik Voloshin '24 who appeared to have made an initial stop but the puck trickled through her shoulder and over the line.
 
On the same Cardinal power play opportunity that Tucker had just scored on, Wesleyan evened the score as Colin Cobb '23 positioned himself well in front of net as DJ Dixon '24 sent a pass cross-ice to Patrick Morrissey '25 who had a shot on goal saved, but the rebound was left for Cobb who knocked in the equalizer just 46 seconds after the opening goal. That was Cobb's third goal of the season.
 
A frenetic next five minutes saw Wesleyan hem the puck in the Amherst defensive end and attempt eight shots, including four on-goal, all turned aside by Wisco who saved 31-of-32 shots in the game.
 
With the game entering an overtime period of 3-on-3 hockey, a costly turnover on the near side boards led to a 2-on-1 break for Amherst going the other way. Matt Toporowski sprang Josh Burke going over center ice and with time to make a deicison, Burke passed back to Toporowski who just had Voloshin to beat, Going forehand-backhand with a deek, he roofed a backhander that proved the difference for the Mammoths as the team celebrated a dramatic victory.
 
The Cardinals committed just one penalty in the entire game, while Amherst was sent off for five. Wesleyan converted one of their four power play opportunities. Wesleyan owned a 32-19 advantage in shots with Wisco's 31 saves keeping Amherst in the game. Voloshin made 17 in net for the Cardinals.
 
Wesleyan looks to rebound with a showdown against Hamilton tomorrow at 3 PM.