Men's hockey falls in road game at Wesleyan

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Wesleyan University had a big second period with four goals and beat Colby College for just the second time ever in a 5-1 win in New England Small College Athletic Conference play Friday night.

It was only the second time in history that Wesleyan has beaten Colby (10-6-4, 6-6-4 NESCAC) in 22 all-time meetings, the first coming last year when Wesleyan won 2-1.  Otherwise, Colby had won 18 of the previous 20 meetings with a pair of ties.
  

The Cardinals (7-13-0, 4-12-0 NESCAC) got started just 1:18 into the second period following a scoreless, penalty-free first period.  Freshman Don Kleckner redirected a shot from the slot by sophomore Tom Salah past Colby junior netminder Cody McKinney for the 1-0 edge.  Kleckner would later add an empty-net goal with :27 left in the contest to give him four tallies on the year.

 It took Wesleyan more than 10 minutes to light the lamp again but senior Woody Redpath made it 2-0 as he fired a shot from high on the right into a literally open net at the 11:56 mark for his first goal of the year.  McKinney had come out to play a loose puck and ended up going down when a Colby defender and a Cardinal forward caused a bit of contact with the keeper in the right circle.  Just 1:14 later, Wesleyan owned a 3-0 edge when junior Anthony DePietto threw the puck at the net from a sharp angle on the left which hit the back of McKinney and ended up in the net at 13:08, giving DePietto his fourth goal of the campaign.  Wesleyan concluded the run with a goal from freshman Adam Kaiser at 16:23 as he snapped off a high shot past McKinney from the inside portion of the right circle after he received a faceoff draw from senior Sam Robinson, who got the assist.  It was the fifth goal of the year for Kaiser.

Colby prevented Wesleyan freshman goalie Matt Hadge from posting his first career shutout when senior Michael Belliveau scored his second goal of the season from the slot after a Wesleyan defensive miscue left the puck for the Mules inside the Wesleyan blue line.  Junior Billy Crinnion got the first touch on the loose puck to pick up the assist at 17:12 of the second frame.  Hadge ended the game with 16 saves while allowing the lone goal in upping his seasonal record to 2-4.  McKinney picked up 19 stops for the Mules.  He has played all but 43 minutes in goal for Colby this season.

The teams had just one penalty whistled down in the game, that early in the second stanza against Wesleyan.

Wesleyan 5, Colby 1

Score by Periods           1       2       3       -       T
Colby                              0       1       0       -      1
Wesleyan                       0       4       1      -       5

SCORING:  1st period --- none.  2nd Period --- Wes – Don Kleckner (3)  (Tom Salah, Henry Coxe)  1:18 ; Wes – Woody Redpath (1)  (Jeff Beck, David Layne)  11:56 ; Wes – Anthony DePietto  (4)  (A.J. Ferraro)  13:08 ; Wes – Adam Kaiser  (5)  (Sam Robinson)  16:23 ; Col – Michael Belliveau  (2)  (Billy Crinnion)  17:12.  3rd Period --- Wes – Don Kleckner  (4)  (unasst.)  19:33.

SHOTS:  Wes – 24 ; Col – 17.
SAVES:  Wes – Matt Hadge  16 ; Col – Cody McKinney  19.
PENALTIES/MINUTES:  Wes – 1/2 ; Col – 0/0.
POWER-PLAY GOALS/OPPORTUNITIES:  Wes – 0/0 ; Col – 0/1.