MIDDLETOWN, CT.- The Wesleyan men's hockey team cruised to their second straight NESCAC victory Saturday afternoon, defeating Williams College 4-2. It was a 1-1 game late in the first period before the Cardinals exploded for three unanswered goals over the next period to extend their lead to 4-1. Williams added a late goal to trim the deficit to two, but Wesleyan was able to hold on to defeat their Little Three foe by two goals. Wesleyan wins their second straight conference game, moving to 13-5-2 (9-3-2 NESCAC). Williams suffers the loss, dropping to 6-13-1 (4-9-1 NESCAC).

The Cardinals showed no signs of slowing down in their second game in as many days, scoring within the first six minutes of this one to get on the board first. Ethan Davidson '26 stole the puck in the attacking zone, before beating one defender to his right and converting on the backhanded finish. The Cardinals then went on a power play just two minutes later where they continued to put pressure on the Ephs defenseman. They managed five shots, but none of them were able to beat Williams' Evan Ruschil and the game moved into the latter part of the first period at 1-0 in favor of Wesleyan.

The Ephs managed to tie the game up at the 15:53 mark of the period. Nicholas Rashkovsky delivered a nice centering pass from the right side to a waiting Jonah Gold who had his one-timer find the back of the net to even the game at one. Just over a minute later Wesleyan had the answer. Emmet Powell '23 sent a long outlet pass that found the stick of Owen Sweet '25 all alone at the Williams blue line. Sweet carried the puck across the line and beat Ruschil one-on-one to give the Cards a 2-1 advantage. Wesleyan wasn't done in the first period, scoring again off the ensuing faceoff. Crisp passing moved the puck from Davidson to Colin Cobb '23 right to Wiggle Kerbrat '23 who gave Wesleyan a 3-1 lead heading into the 2^nd period.

A scrum after the first period whistle blew had multiple players in the penalty box to open the second period. Neither team could take advantage of the situation with only a handful of shots on goal through the first 10 minutes. Wesleyan had two more power play chances to end the second period, but the Ephs penalty kill held the Cardinals without a goal. In the final two minutes of the period Wesleyan was able to add an insurance goal to extend their lead to three. After a scramble, Danny Judge '26 secured the puck and ripped a wrist shot in the upper corner of the net. The puck ricocheted right back out, but the officials determined it did cross the line and Wesleyan extended their lead to three going into the final 20 minutes.

Williams had a power play early in the period, but Wesleyan was able to hold strong and turn away a series of shots to keep the game even moving into the middle part of the final period. Williams was finally able to break past the Wesleyan defense at the 11:41 mark. Henry Muller intercepted the puck in their attacking zone, ripping a shot on goal where Erik Voloshin '24 made a pad save. The rebound made its way to Rashkovsky who was able to finish and cut the lead to two. The Ephs pulled their goalie for the final two and a half minutes, leading to a handful of scoring chances, but the Cardinals held on to secure the 4-2 victory.

Wesleyan outshot the Ephs 26-25. Four different Cardinals scored.  Wesleyan has not lost a NESCAC game in regulation this season. Cobb had two assists for the second consecutive game. Nine different Cardinals added a point.

Wesleyan goes on the road for their next three conference games, starting with Bowdoin on Friday February 10^th.