Friday, January 3, 2003

TRINITY MEN’S ICE HOCKEY DOWNS
ST. THOMAS IN NORWICH TOURNEY SEMIS
Ori and Finch Score Twice Each for the Bantams

Northfield, Vt.- Junior forward Joseph Ori (Niles, Ill.) scored two goals, including the unassisted game-winner with 3:33 remaining in the game, to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 4-3 victory over the University of St. Thomas Tommies in the opening round of the Times Argus Men’s Ice Hockey Invitational Tournament this afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena on the campus of Norwich University. 

Trinity, ranked No. 16 in the nation, improves to 5-1-1 with its third straight win and advances to the tourney finals tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of the Norwich vs. Utica game in the other first round contest.  St. Thomas, ranked No. 7 in the nation, falls to 9-2-3 with its first loss in the last nine games.  The Tommies will play the loser of the other semi-final tomorrow at 4 p.m. in the consolation game.

Trinity, which hadn’t played since December 7, came out strong offensively, as Ori one-timed a perfect pass from junior defenseman Timothy Joncas (Branford, Conn.) into the net to convert a power play opportunity and open the scoring 4:02 into the game.  The Bantams took a 2-0 lead just 35 seconds later, when a Tommie defensive miscue resulted in a successful one-on-one breakaway for Trinity freshman forward Cameron Finch (Acton, Mass.).

St. Thomas recovered as the first period progresses, peppering Trinity sophomore goalie Doug Kisielius (Park Ridge, Ill.) with several shots during a power play attempt.  Kisielius made seven saves in the final few minutes of the first frame, but a Bantam penalty in the closing minute of the period gave the Tommies another power play to open the second stanza.  St. Thomas junior forward Chris Hood (Duluth, Minn.) trickled a shot past Kisielius to cut the Trinity lead to a single goal with 19:02 left in the second period.

After St. Thomas tied the score on a nice move by senior defenseman Drew Palmgren (Blaine, Minn.), the teams held each other scoreless for the final 12:14 of the second period and the first half of the third frame.  Finch finally broke the scoring drought, scoring on a rebound off a shot by sophomore teammate Ryan Stevens (Concord, N.H.), and the Bantams held a 3-2 lead.

St. Thomas tied the score at the 12:58 mark on a wrist shot by senior captain defenseman Dan Starkey (Bloomington, Minn.), but the Bantams answered with a wrister of their own as Ori flicked a shot from the right wing past Tommie sophomore netminder Zach Sikich (Eveleth, Minn.) for the deciding goal.

Kisielius finished with 36 saves to earn the win between the pipes for Trinity, while Sikich made 25 stops for the Tommies.  Six different Bantams recorded assists on the two goals each by Ori and Finch, while Starkey assisted on one goal and scored another for St. Thomas.

GOALS
1. TC- Joseph Ori (Timothy Joncas, Jeff Natale) pp 4:02, TC- Cameron Finch (Greg O’Leary, Colin Wilson-Murphy) 4:37.
2. ST- Chris Hood (John Bottoms, Anthony Blumer) pp :58, ST- Drew Palmgren (Dan Starkey) 7:46.
3. TC- Finch (Ryan Stevens, Brendan Timmins) 10:34, ST- Starkey (Peter Brooks, Gordon Collinis) 12:58, TC- Joseph Ori (unassisted) 16:27.

GOALIE SAVES
TC- Doug Kisielius 36
ST- Zach Sikich 25

POWER PLAY
TC- 1/3, ST- 1/6

PENALTIES
TC- 9/18, ST- 8/22