Williams Claims 3-2 Overtime Victory Over Bowdoin in Men's Ice Hockey Quarterfinals
Courtesy Williams Sports Information
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - Williams sophomore forward Connor Olvany lifted a deflected shot into a wide-open goal at 9:10 of overtime to lift the Ephs into the semifinals of the 2009 NESCAC Men's Ice Hockey Championship by a 3-2 score. Bowdoin finishes its season with a 11-12-2 overall record while Williams, now 15-8-2, will play second-seeded Middlebury at Amherst next Friday.
Williams lost its only meeting against Bowdoin this season, 8-3.
The scoring began early in the first period, when at 3:40 Bowdoin junior forward Colin MacCormack took a pass from senior forward/defenseman Matt Smith and flung it past Eph freshman goaltender Ryan Purdy for his 8th on the year. The early goal did little to shake the nerves of the rookie, as Purdy would stop the rest of the 15 shots he faced in the opening twenty minutes.
Williams responded by mounting some offensive pressure later in the period, and at 13:18 sophomore forward Ryan Young gathered a loose puck and wristed it over the shoulder of Polar Bear goalie Chris Rossi for his ninth this season, tying the score at one. Senior forward Brett Haraguchi started the play by stickhandling from the Eph blue line all they way into the Polar Bear zone. Freshman defenseman Justin Troiani also assisted on the goal.
The Ephs would take the lead in the second at 13:37, when Troiani centered the puck from behind the Bowdoin net to senior forward Matt Draheim. The veteran waited patiently, skated to the open spot, and ripped a wrister over a baited Rossi for his ninth goal, giving the Williams a one-goal advantage. Olvany also earned an assist on the score.
Williams started the final frame down a man. Although they successfully killed this first penalty, they were unable to kill a second Bowdoin man-advantge just minutes later, as MacCormack slapped home a one-time feed from freshman forward/defenseman Graham Sisson for his ninth goal, knotting the score at two with 14:50 left in regulation.
With 6:33 left, Bowdoin received a five-minute major penalty for hitting from behind. However, the Polar Bears held their ground and killed off the entire penalty, escaping a near game-winner by Matt Draheim. The Eph forward found a loose puck all alone in front of the net and made a strong move, but was stopped by Rossi's right pad.
The match went into overtime, and from the start of the period the Ephs began to threaten for the win. Haraguchi just missed putting in the game-winner on the power-play on a back-door set-up from the point. A few minutes later, a deflection try just skidded wide of an open Bowdoin net.
Finally, at 9:10 in the overtime period, sophomore forward Matt Masucci took the puck out from behind the net and tried a wrap-around wrister. His shot was knocked down by a Polar Bear defneder, but the loose puck came to Olvany, who guided it into the open net for the game-winner. The Eph bench cleared in a wild celebration of their first playoff win since the 2000 NESCAC championship.
