Men's hockey wins, earns sixth seed in playoffs

MANCHESTER, N.H. --- The turnaround is complete for the Colby College men's hockey team after finishing the regular season 11-10-2 overall and earning the sixth seed in the New England Small College Athletic Conference tourney after a 5-2 victory over Saint Anselm College on Saturday.

The Mules were 2-8-1 overall and last in the NESCAC standings after falling to Norwich University back on January 8. The Mules got it together and finished 9-2-1 over the final 11 regular season games and will now play at third-seeded Middlebury College in a league quarterfinal game next Saturday at 1 p.m.

Cody McKinney was solid in goal again for the Mules with 33 saves and received fine support from the offense with five goals. The Mules took a 2-0 lead when Billy Crinnion scored just 26 seconds into the game off passes from Chris Buonomo and Jesse Lehman. Nick Lanza tallied at 16:19 from Jack Bartlett and Brendan Cosgrove to make it 2-0. However, Saint Anselm (10-11-2) scored with just 1:14 left in the first period to make it 2-1.

Saint Anselm tied the game at 2:48 of the second period on a goal by Paul Snell, but Tom McGinn scored the game-winning goal on the power play at 13:12 from Scott Harff and Mike Doherty. Buonomo made it 4-2 after two periods off a pass from Wil Hartigan with just 1:58 to play.

McGinn scored his 10^th goal of the season from Tommy Kader at 9:54 of the third period to close out the scoring.

Colby 5, Saint Anselm 2

Colby                    2#2#1---5

Saint Anselm     1#1#0---2

1^st period

C: Billy Crinnion (Chris Buonomo, Jesse Lehman), :26

C: Nick Lanza (Jack Bartlett, Brendan Cosgrove), 16:19

SA: Ryan Holley (Paul Snell), 18:46

2^nd period

SA: Paul Snell (Nick Wheeler, Coleman Noonan), 2:48

C: Tom McGinn (Scott Harff, Mike Doherty), 13:12, PP

C: Chris Buonomo (Wil Hartigan), 18:02

3^rd period

C: Tom McGinn (Tommy Kader), 9:54

               Shots: Colby 30, Saint Anselm 35. Power plays: Colby 1-2, Saint Anselm 0-4. Penalties: Colby 5-10, Saint Anselm 3-6. Goalies: Cody McKinney (Colby, 60:00, 2 GA, 33 saves); Kevin Fairweather (SA, 40:00, 4 GA, 19 saves) and Robert Kang (SA, 20:00, 1 GA, 6 saves).

2011 Men's Ice Hockey Championship Seeding

Quarterfinals – Saturday, Feb. 26 at higher seeds

No. 8 Wesleyan at No. 1 Hamilton – 3:00 p.m.

No. 7 Trinity at No. 2 Williams – 4:00 p.m.

No. 6 Colby at No. 3 Middlebury – 1:00 p.m.

No. 5 Bowdoin at No. 4 Amherst – 1:00 p.m.

Semifinals – Saturday, March 5 at highest remaining seed – 1:00/4:00 p.m.

Highest remaining seed vs. Lowest remaining seed
Remaining quarterfinal winners

Championship – Sunday, March 6 – 2:00 p.m.

Semifinal winners