Having to contend with the top three teams in the conference, the Trinity men's hockey team had a slim chance of making it to the finals of the NESCAC Tournament, let alone winning it all. As it turned out, a slim chance was all the Bantams needed.
Trinity finished off a miraculous postseason run in the NESCAC Tournament on Sunday by knocking off No. 2 Middlebury by a final score of 3-2 in a double-overtime thriller. It was the Bantams' first conference title since 2003.
Junior forward Joshua Rich scored 7:07 into the second overtime off of assists from senior forward Matthew Crum and junior forward Riley Hicks. Rich wrapped around the net and slid one by Middlebury goalie Ross Cherry, which cleared the Trinity benches as the team rushed the ice in celebration.
"It's a great, great honor," Rich said. "It's tough to put it into words. With the magnitude of the game, being that deep into the second overtime, and the emotion of knocking off a team that's won the NESCAC's seven of the eight years it's been in existence, I'm speechless. To be in that elite [company], the feeling is surreal."
The road to victory was not easy for the Bantams. As the No. 6 seed in the conference, they had to make it through the No. 3 Bowdoin Polar Bears and the No. 1 Colby Mules, both on the road, in order to even have the opportunity to play for the championship. But a 5-2 win over Bowdoin followed by a 2-1 upset of Colby instilled a confidence in the Bantams that they carried over into the title game.
"It definitely helped a lot having the momentum," said Shawn Donaher, a junior defenseman who has been injured and did not play in the championship. "But the engine of our team was [freshman goalie] Wesley Vesprini between the pipes. Guys were really committed and hopped on board. We got behind [Vesprini], who really stepped up."
"We took it game by game, period by period," Rich added. "We've struggled in consistency this season, but once we got things clicking we showed how good we could be."
Rich was undoubtedly the star of the game, scoring two goals for the Bantams, including the game-winner. He put Trinity on the board 11:56 into the game to tie it at one apiece. His teammate, junior defenseman Chris Powers, also played a huge part in the victory with one unassisted and shorthanded goal in the second period to tie the game up at two, as well as the assist to Rich's first goal.
However, Rich insists that the victories did not come as a result of exceptional individual play.
"Our key to success is that we don't have lots of All-Americans or 20-goal scorers," Rich said. "We've got a group of 29 guys who are all pulling together. It's taken every one of us to get where we're at. We've won these games with a team effort where everyone has pulled their weight and stepped up at different times."
One member of the team who has stepped up huge for the Bantams never actually set foot on the ice: coach Dave Cataruzolo. A 1998 graduate of Bowdoin College, Cataruzolo has been coaching at Trinity for the past decade, spending six years as the associate head coach and several years before that as the forwards coach and recruiting coordinator.
This year was Cataruzolo's first in the head coaching position. He stepped in for Trinity legend John Dunham, who retired at the end of last season after 33 years behind the bench. Needless to say, Cataruzolo had big shoes to fill, and he did so with flying colors.
"Although it's his first year at the helm of the program, he's been instrumental to the team for close to the past decade," Donaher said. "He's been around for a while ... so it's been a smooth transition for him and the team. He's found his own style and identity as a head coach as the season progressed. He really came into his own, figuring out the system and direction he wanted the team to head in."
With the victory, the Bantams earned the NESCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In its first-round game tonight, Trinity will take on UMass-Dartmouth, the reigning ECAC Northeast Tournament Champions and NCAA quarterfinalists for the past two years.
"UMass-Dartmouth is going to be another hostile environment," Rich said. "We're going to take it 20 minutes at a time. We've got to play physical and have solid defense."
"It's a great accomplishment, and everyone's pumped about the win," Donaher added. "But we have to regroup. We still have the momentum and the positive vibe, but we need to refocus on the first period of our next game."
