Amherst Earns Top Seed for First Time in Tournament History

HADLEY, Mass. - An exciting final weekend of the regular season saw Amherst College earn the top seed in the 2009 NESCAC Men’s Ice Hockey Championship. The Lord Jeffs claimed the number-one spot for the first time in postseason history and will begin their quest for their first conference crown next Saturday, Feb. 28 when Amherst along with Middlebury, Trinity and Williams host the quarterfinals. All four teams locked up a home quarterfinal game with a week remaining in the season, however the seeding for this year’s tournament was not known until the final horn sounded on Saturday afternoon.

Amherst (18-4-1, 16-2-1 NESCAC) has been red hot as of late, winning 10 games in a row and going 14-1-0 since falling to Nichols in the championship contest of the St. Michael’s tournament on Jan. 3. Part of the Jeffs’ success has been the performance of the offense, scoring at least three goals in each of their 18 wins this season. Amherst closed out the regular season with a 4-3 win over Middlebury - the first over the Panthers since the 1999-2000 campaign - on Friday to clinch the top seed in this year’s championship, then used a six-goal third period to topple rival Williams 6-0 on Saturday afternoon. The Lord Jeffs will host eighth-seeded Tufts (11-11-2, 7-10-2 NESCAC) next Saturday in what will be the first meeting between the two in the playoffs. The Jumbos clinched a spot in the championship for the first time since 2005 with a 4-2 win at UMass Boston on Friday, then earned a 3-2 empty-net overtime win at Babson on Saturday. The lone meeting between Amherst and Tufts went the way of the Jeffs on Jan. 30, 3-1 in Amherst, Mass. The Jumbos last posted a victory over Amherst during the 2004-05 season, 4-3. Amherst reached the semifinals for the second year in a row during the 2008 championship, while Tufts has never reached the tournament semifinals.

After falling short of earning the top seed due to Friday’s 4-3 loss at Amherst, Middlebury (17-6-1, 14-4-1 NESCAC) bounced back on Saturday afternoon with a 5-1 win at Hamilton to secure the second seed. The Panthers will face a familiar foe in the quarterfinals when they meet seventh-seeded Hamilton (9-14-1, 8-11-0 NESCAC) for the second weekend in a row. Although the Continentals are 2-4-0 during the month of February, they did pick up their first overtime win of the season on Friday by fighting back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 over Williams. Saturday’s contest brings together two teams that have plenty of tournament history between them. Middlebury has won seven of the nine conference crowns, the most recent coming in 2007, and holds a 22-2 championship record. While Hamilton returns to the league tournament for the first time since 2006, the Continentals have advanced to the semifinals in five of their seven previous appearances, all as the lower-seeded team. The Panthers, who have reached the championship game every year the tournament has been held, hold the upper hand in the all-time playoff series with a 5-0 record, as the most recent victory over the Continentals came during the 2006 semifinals (9-2).

Third-seeded Williams (14-8-2, 12-5-2 NESCAC) had a rough road weekend with the aforementioned losses and came up short of possibly earning the tournament’s top seed. The Ephs had been riding a three-game winning streak and were 7-3-0 in their last ten games before stumbling at Hamilton and Amherst. Williams will look to reach the conference semifinals for the first time since the inaugural 2000 championship when it meets sixth-seeded Bowdoin (11-11-2, 8-9-2 NESCAC) in the quarterfinals. The Polar Bears completed the regular season with a road split, downing St. Michael’s on Friday 4-1 but falling at Norwich 2-1 Saturday afternoon. After going 2-5-1 in January, Bowdoin has posted an even 3-3-0 record in February. Bowdoin made an early exit from the postseason a year ago, falling 5-2 to Trinity in the quarterfinals to snap the Polar Bears’ three-year streak of appearing in the NESCAC final. Surprisingly, Saturday’s showdown will be the first in championship history between the two teams.

Fourth seed Trinity (15-8-0, 12-7-0 NESCAC) will face fellow Constitution State resident Connecticut College (13-8-3, 9-7-3 NESCAC), the fifth seed, in the final first round contest next Saturday. The defending NESCAC Men’s Ice Hockey Champion Bantams dropped a pair of contests at home during the final weekend of the regular season, falling 5-1 to Skidmore on Friday and 3-2 to Castleton on Saturday. The Camels, meanwhile, rebounded from a 5-2 loss at Babson on Friday by downing UMass Boston 9-1 Saturday afternoon and are now 8-3-2 since mid-January. Connecticut College picked up a pair of 6-3 victories over Trinity during 2008-09, the first coming in the championship game of the Douglas W. Roberts Tournament on Nov. 30 before taking the conference tilt this season on Feb. 8 in Hartford, Conn. The Bantams have reached the NESCAC semifinals in six of the last seven tournaments while the Camels have yet to win a playoff contest in their previous two appearances, falling to Amherst 3-2 in overtime a year ago. The quarterfinal matchup will be the first meeting between the two squads in the NESCAC championship.

2009 NESCAC MEN’S ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
Quarterfinals - Saturday, Feb. 28 at Higher Seeds
No. 8 Tufts at No. 1 Amherst - 1:00 p.m.
No. 5 Connecticut College at No. 4 Trinity - 1:00 p.m.
No. 6 Bowdoin at No. 3 Williams - 3:00 p.m.
No. 7 Hamilton at No. 2 Middlebury - 4:00 p.m.

Semifinals - Saturday, March 7 at Highest Remaining Seed
Highest remaining seed vs. Lowest remaining seed - 1:00 p.m.
Remaining first round winners - 4:00 p.m.

Championship - Sunday, March 8
Semifinal winners - 2:00 p.m.