MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Player of the Game Ross Wood (Jr., Fort Washington, Pa.) flushed five shots into the back of the cage as Tufts University of the New England Division claimed a 17-9 victory over New York Division representative Hamilton College in the first round of the 2017 Men’s Division III Collegiate Club Championship hosted by Middlebury College.
The victory places Tufts into a semifinal showdown at 8:10 p.m. against Carnegie Mellon University of the Mid-Atlantic Division which collected an 11-10 nailbiter win against the United States Coast Guard earlier in the day. Hamilton will take on Coast Guard immediately prior to the Tufts-CMU showdown at 7:00 p.m. with a berth in the Fifth Place game in question.
Tufts trailed only once against the Continentals as Christopher Wan (So., Irvine, Calif.) drew first blood in the duel for Hamilton by lining in a shot with 5:27 to go in the first quarter. However, Tufts’ hide proved tougher than Hamilton expected as Abe Massik (Jr., Corte Madera, Calif.) ripped in the equalizer at 4:44 and Wood roped in a man-up goal at 2:57 to go ahead 2-1. Izzy Frankel and Wood followed with even-strength markers with 2:14 and 1:56 left in the opening frame, respectively, to set the scoreboard at 4-1 prior to Clay Holmes (Sr., Greenwich, Conn.) snapping Tufts’ offensive surge with an answer for the Continentals with 39 ticks on the clock to make it a 4-2 game.
The lead ballooned to 8-3 by halftime as Andrew Barber (So., New Haven, Conn.) curled in a power-play bid at 5:05 with Massik (1:41), Wood (47 seconds) and Gabe Haddad (Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y.) (eight seconds) to account for a four goal outburst by Tufts. Holmes accounted for Hamilton’s lone tally in the second quarter as he shoved in a man-up shot with 3:24 left in the first half.
Hamilton appeared to be setting Tufts up for a comeback in the dawning moments of the third quarter as Holmes and Wan whirled in even-strength (6:06) and advantage (3:27) chances, respectively, to move the Continentals within 8-5.
However, the comeback try would not be a burr for Tufts as Hazen Bren (Sr., Pasadena, Calif.) answered with 3:13 on the clock to return the lead to four at 9-5.
Once again Hamilton would try to ignite a comeback bid as Holmes sliced in a goal at 2:16 to move his team within 9-6. It would mark the final tally of the third quarter for the New York Division representative as Barber (2:02) and Massik (1:26) blasted home even-strength bids prior to Wood lasering in an man-up bid with two ticks to go in the frame for a 12-6 lead after 21 minutes of action.
The six-goal spread would prove to be too much for Hamilton to overcome in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter as the Continentals could pull no closer than 13-8 with 5:49 to go in suffering a 17-9 setback.
Wood (five), Massik (four) and Barber (three) led the way for Tufts with hat-tricks or better. The quintet of Max Breuer (Fr., London, United Kingdom), Haddad, Breen, Frankel and Calvin Liang (Gr., Fullerton, Calif.) each accounted for single markers in support of a 10-save effort from Hans Tercek (Sr., Beverly Hills, Calif.).
For Hamilton, Holmes led the way with four goals, while Wan and Evan Tatro (So., Titusville, Fla.) contributed three and two markers, respectively. In cage, Case Tatro (Sr., Titusville, Fla.) turned aside 11 shots in suffering the defeat.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Tufts University | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | – | 17 |
| Hamilton College | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | – | 9 |
| Hamilton Goals: | Clay Holmes (4); Christopher Wan (3); Evan Tatro (2) | |||||
| Tufts Goals: | Ross Wood (5); Abe Massik (4); Andrew Barber (3); Max Breuer; Gabe Haddad; Calvin Liang; Izzy Frankel; Hazen Breen | |||||
| Saves: | Hamilton – Case Tatro (11) ; Tufts – Hans Tercek (10) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Hamilton – 7 ; Tufts – 6 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Hamilton – 4-for-6 ; Tufts – 3-for-7 | |||||
| Sprints: | Hamilton – 2-for-4 (3rd, 4th) ; Tufts – 2-for-4 (1st, 2nd) | |||||
| Officials: | Steve Sargalski, Dennis Kinne | |||||
Photo 1: Tufts University’s Abe Massik lines up a shot over Hamilton College’s Chris Wan; Photo 2: Hamilton College’s Benjamin Cooper aims to pass over Tufts University’s Hazen Breen; Photo 3: Hamilton College’s Evan Tatro looks for an opening as Tufts University’s Izzy Frankel closes in.
