While there are many things yet to be resolved in the conferences across the east in D-III, only NESCAC finds the final weekend where every team is still alive with playoff hopes and positions among the ten teams are pretty much all up for grabs with the exception of Hamilton’s first place perch. Just two points separate teams five (Tufts) through eight (Williams) in the standings but look a little further up or down the table and it is clear that Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, and Wesleyan are all in play for home-ice berths with the Maine schools and playoff eligibility for the two Connecticut Schools. Nowhere will the points be more valuable than the four teams separated by just two points as Middlebury and Amherst will be battling with Tufts and Williams to stay in the top eight, and maybe even sneak into a home-ice seed with some favorable scoreboard watching results. As a fan, it would be hard to ask for more meaningful hockey than it all coming down to the final two games on the schedule that have now become playoff games for virtually everyone. Here’s a look from the coaches’ perspective on what this weekend means and how all the teams ended up here battling to the end.
Tufts – Patrick Norton (5th place)
“The parity in this league is just incredible. Top to bottom is exactly why the final two games mean so much to every team having something to play for. I think we all feel like we left some points and results on the table over the course of the season but I like how we have been playing and see how some of the elements that helped with las year’s run to the champions hip game are coming together in similar fashion.”
“Gus [Bylin] has been very good in goal for us, especially in the second half. Joe Horn has been a point-per-game player for us and he has been playing well since returning from injury. If we can get our top guys with a little more puck luck and our power play clicking better than 11%, we can make some noise in the playoffs, but we have to get there first. These last two games with Colby and Bowdoin will be like playoff games for us as they look to keep home-ice berths and our team looks to lock in a place as high up as we can get. It helps to be playing at home where we have to take advantage of the things we can control.”
Jack Ceglarski – Middlebury (6th place)
“It is frustrating to be where we are at where I think we have missed out on wins and points that would have had us locked in coming into the weekend. We have a very young team so we have learned some lessons the hard way with losses in games where we didn’t close well or took an untimely penalty to give the other team opportunity to comeback. Hopefully ,we have learned from those experiences as we prepare for Amherst and Hamilton this weekend. While we haven’t had great success against those two teams recently, we have played very well at home, and we will look to take advantage of the home-ice and home crowd.”
“It is a great time of the year to have a hot goaltender, and Andrew [Heinze] has been that for us lately but pretty much all season. He has two shutouts in a row and gives us a chance to win so he will be an important factor for us this weekend. Offensively, it has been fun to watch the line of [Revy] Mack, [Jackson] Morehouse, and [Reece] Brendich emerge. They play with size and create space for each other in the offensive zone. We will need them to produce chances and get on the scoresheet if we want to guarantee points and a playoff position in these final two games.”
Jack Arena – Amherst (7th place)
“Our MO is that we play pretty well and often times outshoot our opponents, sometimes by a wide margin and then we sometimes win and sometimes lose. We haven’t finished a lot or very well this season and have not scored many 5-on-5 goals. We have mirrored a lot of other teams with good one game on the weekend and then not so good and that really reflects as much about the balance in the conference as it does our consistency. We could finish anywhere from fourth to tenth based on how things play out this weekend, but we really do not want to be in that number nine slot – someone is going to finish there but we have to do everything we can to get some points and clinch our spot.”
“We have been opportunistic on special teams and have had on occasion this season a better chance of scoring a shorthand goal than a power play goal. We get lots of chances and on the right players’ sticks but have not got the bounces consistently throughout the year. [Josh] Burke and [Bobby] Luca have been very good on the penalty kill and have scored shorthanded for us. [Oliver] Flynn came in a the break and gave us a boost offensively and we will need that this weekend on the road against Middlebury and Williams.”
Bill Kangas – Williams (8th place)
“You can’t call the results upsets when the league is as balanced as it is from top to bottom. We practice hard all season and just need to keep having that next shift mentality around producing some winning hockey. It is good that we are at home, get to stay in our own beds and play in a building where we have been pretty good this season. I don’t remember it ever being this close and watching the scoreboard for other game results like this season. We have been a goals by committee type of team all season and this would be a good weekend to get some goals on the board.”
“[Cal] Sandquist wears the “C” like only one other goaltender has here and that was Evan Ruschil a couple of years ago when we made it to the championship game as the eight seed and played number seven in the title game. Cal has that calming leadership effect like Evan did and we hope he gets some of that magic like Evan had in that run. I think we will see what pans out on Friday from the games and be ready to do what we need to do on Saturday to see if or where we can be in the playoff mix.”
Friday night could certainly reduce some of the drama if anyone in places five through eight wins in regulation or overtime to eliminate the pursuits of Conn College and Wesleyan. But the battles for seeding and home-ice are likely to play out through Saturday’s contests. With the remote possibility of tied teams needing to play a shootout as the final tie-breaker for playoff eligibility, the conclusion to the NESCAC schedule will absolutely be must-watch hockey!
