Williams Put Men’s Hockey on Ice

Jason Campos

Williams had five different players score goals, three in the third period to pull away as the visiting Ephs beat the Beacons last Saturday, 5-1, at the Clark Athletic Center. The loss was the ninth in a row for the young Beacons, whose record worsened to 2-14-1 overall.

Coming off a 5-0 loss to Middlebury the night before, the Beacons looked to end a miserable stretch of losses against a respectable 8-6-2 Williams team. The Beacons played reasonably well in the first period, making few mistakes and mental errors.

However, Williams pounced on two opportunities presented to them. The first seven minutes into the game Dan Cotuno of Williams scored on a two-on-one rush down the ice. It became a two-on-one when Beacons defenseman Eddie Alberding lost his balance at the defensive blue while he was backchecking. Andrew Beasley of Williams sailed by the fallen Alberding, patiently waited for Beacons goaltender Craig Paster to commit to him, and then sent a soft pass to Cotuno, who beat Paster on the goaltender’s glove side. The Beacons did have three power plays in the first period, including a two-man advantage for 45 seconds, but they could not capitalize. The Ephs scored once more with a little more than a minute remaining in the period. Bill Gilchrist of Williams sent a quick pass to Guy Smith at the blue line between two Beacon players. Smith came in on Paster, deked a few times, and then put the puck in on a backhand shot. The second period saw the Ephs fire 18 shots on net, but Paster turned back every single one. Although the Beacons have not had much go right for them as of late, good execution on their fourth power play late in the second period saw UMB end a two game goal scoring drought. Beacon Julian Gianantonio fired a shot from the left faceoff circle, which Eph goaltender Mike Aerosty stopped. Steven Cappellini was stationed out front and in good position to send the puck over Aerosty and into the net for his second goal of the season. The Ephs took back any momentum the Beacons had early in the third period, as Brent Kozel and Steve Baldassarri each scored before seven minutes had elapsed in the third. Although Head Coach Joe Mallen took a timeout after Baldassarri’s goal so his team could regroup, it did not translate into many goal scoring opportunities for the Beacons. UMass mustered only eight shots on goal in the third period, after two period total of 26. Alex Garceau of Williams capped off the scoring with 51 seconds left in the game.