HOOKSETT, New Hampshire. - For the second time in two days, the Amherst College men's ice hockey team needed late heroics, and for the second time in two days, it got them, as junior forward Greg Carr (Hanover, MA) scored with 12.7 seconds remaining to break a 2-2 tie between the Jeffs and the host Hawks of Saint Anselm's College. Senior Tri-captain Jim Smith (Rochester, MN) added a last-second empty-netter to give the visitors a 4-2 victory, their fifth in a row after a 5-4 season-opening loss to Connecticut College.
The afternoon after senior Tri-captain Chris Orszulak (Longmeadow, MA) broke a 3-3 tie at New England College with a goal at 18:21 of the third period, the Jeffs would once again need the heroics after the Hawks took a 2-1 lead into the final frame. Amherst sophomore Erik DiNardo (N. Reading, MA) had given the visitors a 1-0 lead at 16:32 of the first, converting a feed from classmate Erich Schram (Madison, WI), but the Hawks responded with two second-period goals, a power-play goal from Mike Martiniello (Wilmington, MA) at 5:36 and a short-handed goal 2:13 later from rookie Ryan Nolin (Berlin, NH).
In the third, the Jeffs, who outshot the Hawks 40-22 on the afternoon, came out on the offensive, with Smith knotting the game at two 6:04 into the final frame. The game remained tied for the next 13 minutes, before Carr sent a wobbly wrister from the point past an outstretched Andrew Zoppo (Needham, MA), giving the Jeffs a 3-2 lead with only 12.7 seconds left. The Hawks pulled Zoppo for one final run on the Amherst net, but Smith intercepted their last scoring chance, sending the puck the length of the ice and into an empty Hawk net with one second remaining to provide the final margin.
Amherst sophomore Justin Jagher (Framingham, MA) stopped 20 of the shots he faced en route to his first win of the season, while Zoppo recorded 37 saves in the loss. The Jeffs improve to 5-1, 3-1 in conference play, while Saint Anselm's falls to 1-5, 0-4 in league contests. The Hawks are next in action on Tuesday night at Assumption, while the Jeffs are at Wentworth on Tuesday night before next Saturday's showdown at national powerhouse SUNY-Plattsburgh.
