MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – For the second straight game, the No. 15 nationally ranked Wesleyan men's hockey dropped a NESCAC home game in overtime as the Cardinals fell to Hamilton, 2-1, from Spurrier-Snyder Rink on Saturday afternoon. Wesleyan (11-5-2, 7-3-2 NESCAC) suffered their third straight defeat but still gained one point in the league standings due to an OT loss. Hamilton (9-8-1, 7-4-1 NESCAC) wins for the first time in four games.
After outshooting Amherst 32-19 last night, the shots once again favored Wesleyan heavily at 25-14 against the Continentals but another outstanding performance from an opposing netminder limited chances all night as Jack Grant made 24 saves in net for Hamilton.
Hamilton went ahead 1-0 late in the first period as Carson Hall and Sean Tomson worked a series of passes back and forth to one another up-ice. Eventually the puck was possessed behind the net by Hall who centered for Thomson who somehow managed to get a stick on the puck with several Cardinal defenders in the area.
Wesleyan hemmed the puck in the Continentals' defensive zone for much of the second period, outshooting Hamilton 14-5 in the period, but Grant was up to the task on all 14 shots on-goal, keeping Hamilton out front heading into the third.
The Cardinals eventually found the equalizer with under eight minutes remaining as Wesleyan's fourth line made something happen, keeping the puck in the Hamilton end. After a series of cycles keeping possession, the puck came to
Mike Dunderdale '23 at the point who passed to
Parker Sondag at the far boards. With time to line up a shot, his attempt forced Grant to hit the ice, leaving him out of position for
Danny Judge '26 who buried a rebound to tie the score at 1-1.
Wesleyan had a late power play chance in the third but managed no shot attempts in the man-advantage. After the end of regulation, the outcome was decided just 28 seconds into overtime as Hamilton worked a great series of passes from Ben Zimmerman at the point to James Philpott at the faceoff dot. He then centered for Grisha Gotovets who fired a one-timer to win it for the Continentals.
The Cardinals look to regroup next weekend with a pair of home games against Middlebury on Friday at 7 PM following by a Little Three showdown with Williams on Saturday at 3 PM.
