AMHERST, MA - The Amherst College men's hockey team scored two goals in the final minute of regulation to edge visiting non-conference foe Cortland State in the opening round of the Ben McCabe Invitational Tournament Saturday night. Junior co-captain Beau Kretzman (Edina, MN) fired in a wrister with 47 seconds remaining to even the tally at 5-5, and sophomore Steve Nelson (Wayzata, MN) punched home the game-winner with 15 seconds left as the Jeffs remain undefeated at 3-0-1 (1-0-1 ECAC East) and advance to the championship game tomorrow at 7 p.m. against Trinity College.
Cortland took the early lead as sophomore Jason Wilson (Johnston, RI) beat Amherst first-year goalie Dan Smith (Rochester, MN) on a short-handed breakaway 7:23 into the first period. Amherst answered with a short-handed score of its own as Kretzman took a pass from first-year Erik Lund (Edina, MN) and sent a shot smoking past the head of Cortland senior netminder Mark Paine (Saratoga Springs, NY) from just inside the blue line. Cortland regained the lead at the 13:32-mark as Wilson tallied his second goal of the game off an assist from first-year Scott Lengyel (Bridgeport, CT).
The Jeffs retaliated seconds into the second session as first-year defender Trevor Calamel (LockPort, NY) slammed home a slap shot from the point off a feed from senior Chris Norqual (Eden Prarie, MN). Amherst regained the lead at the nine-minute mark as Nelson stuffed in a rebound off a miss from sophomore A.J. Greco (Williamsville, NY).
The seesaw battle continued in the final period as the Red Dragons evened the score at 3-3 with a goal from first-year Buddy Anderson (Washington Township, NJ). Amherst pushed back in front with a goal from Greco with nine minutes left, as Kretzman found him from behind the net and he snuck the puck past Paine on the left side for his second goal of the year. However, Cortland locked up the score just seconds later with a score from senior David Ambuhl (Clifton Park, NY), and took the lead for the first time since the first period as junior Kyle Coletti (Troy, NY), who assisted on the previous two goals, scored unassisted to give the Red Dragons a 5-4 lead with 3:32 remaining in regulation. With one minute left, the Jeffs went on a power play and pulled Smith to give themselves a two-man advantage. Kretzman won the face-off and slid over in front of the net where Nelson found him for his seventh goal of the year. Nelson, who had two goals and two assists in the game, followed up with the game-winner on both Calamel's and Norqual's third assist of the game.
Smith collected 32 saves for Amherst, including 14 in the second period. Paine posted 28 saves for the Red Dragons, who fall to 5-3 with the loss and will face UMass Dartmouth, which fell to Trinity 10-2 in its first-round matchup, in the consolation game tomorrow at 4 p.m.
