Saturday, March 8, 2003
TRINITY TRIMS COLBY TO REACH
SECOND STRAIGHT NESCAC FINAL
Natale Goal Gives Bantams Another
Overtime Tourney Win
Middlebury, Vt. – Sophomore forward Jeff Natale (Hamden, Conn.) scored the game-winning goal 4:23 into overtime to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 3-2 victory over the Colby College White Mules in the semifinal round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men’s Ice Hockey Championship Tournament this afternoon at Middlebury College.
Trinity, ranked No. 11 in the nation, improves to 18-5-2 with its fifth straight win and advances to the NESCAC Championship finals tomorrow against host Middlebury at 1 p.m. The final will be a rematch of the 2001-0 conference finals, won by Middlebury, 3-2, in Vermont. Middlebury, ranked No. 2 in the nation and seeded No. 1 in the tourney, defeated No. 2-seeded Trinity, 4-2, at home in their regular season game. The winner of the NESCAC Tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament, while the loser has a chance to receive one of two at-large bids to the nine-team tournament.
Natale skated down the right wing and wristed a shot into the top of the net to give Trinity its second, 3-2, overtime triumph of the tournament. The Bantams edged Williams in the quarterfinals at home last weekend.
Trinity took a 1-0 lead late in the first period when freshman defenseman Brendan Timmins (Arlington, Mass.) shot from the right wing deflected into the net. It was still a 1-0 at the 17:00 mark of the second period when sophomore goalie Douglas Kiselius (Park Ridge, Ill.) stacked the pads for a great save on Colby sophomore forward Patrick Walsh (Easton, Conn.) to keep it a 1-0 Bantam lead. Just a few seconds later, White Mule junior forward Ross MacMillan (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) won the face-off back to senior captain defenseman Brock Barton (McLeods, New Brusnwick) at the left point. Barton's wrister from the point found the back of the net as Kiselius was screened on the shot.
The game remained in a 1-1 tie, with Colby holding a 20-12 shot advantage after two periods. Colby tooks its first lead of the game just 1:06 into the third period as junior forward Brian Chisholm (King, Ontario) found an open Jake Bayley (Cambridge, Ontario) in the slot which Bayley wristed it into the net.
The Bantams tied the game at 9:08 as freshman forward Cameron Finch (Acton, Mass.) took advantage of a giveaway right in front of the Colby net as he finished to tie the game at two. Neither team could muster up a goal in the final 7:30, forcing the game into overtime. Kiselius made 29 saves for Trinity, while senior goalie J.D. Hadiaris (Saco, Maine) made 14 stops for Colby. The White Mules outshot the Bantams 31-17 on the night.
| Teams | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Final |
| Trinity, Conn. (18-5-2) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Colby (18-6-1) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
PENALTIES
TC – 7/14, C- 4/8.
POWER PLAY
TC- 0/2, C- 1/5.