Contact: Mike O'Brien

AMHERST, Mass. – The Amherst College men's ice hockey team jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period and never looked back, defeating NESCAC rival Colby College, 6-2, at Orr Rink Friday night.

After falling to the Mules (9-7-3, 6-6-1 NESCAC), 5-2, earlier in the season, the Jeffs responded with a decisive victory as they improved to 12-6-1 overall and 10-3-0 in league play.

At 7:42 of the first period, Colby recorded its first penalty of the game, giving Amherst a man advantage. The Jeffs capitalized on their opportunity and in the closing seconds of the power play, Topher Flanagan '16 found the back of the net to give the Purple & White the early 1-0 lead. Andrew Kurlandski '14 assisted on the play.

After several minutes of scoreless action, Amherst tacked on its second goal of the period with just over two minutes remaining until the break. Once again, Kurlandski was involved in the score, this time putting one in the net himself following a slap shot from Theo Hannah '16. Hannah's attempt bounced off Colby junior goalie Sam Parker's pads and dropped in front of Kurlandski who punched it through.

The Mules cut the deficit to one at 10:21 of the second period. This time, Colby took advantage of their power play opportunity as Ben Chwick '14 scored the team's first of the game. Jack Bartlett '17 and Alex Walsh '16 were credited with the assists.

However, it didn't take long for Amherst to regain a two-goal lead. Just under five minutes after Colby's first score, Brendan Burke '16 netted the eventual game-winner with assists from Jake Turrin '15 and Michael Cashman '15.

The third period was all Amherst, tacking on three more goals from Conor Brown '16, Patrick Arena '16 and Chris Roll '17, respectively. Brown scored just 26 seconds into the third frame to put the Jeffs up, 4-1, and Arena tacked on the Jeffs' fifth score at 14:02. Nick Lanza '17 scored 27 seconds after the Amherst goal but the deficit was too large to overcome as Roll added his first of the game at 17:36.

Both goalies recorded 24 stops between the posts. Jeffs goalie Dave Cunningham '16 started in net for Amherst and is now 10-6-0 on the season. Parker is 8-7-2 overall.

Despite the edge in scoring, the shots were very close as Amherst held a 30-26 advantage.

Amherst returns to Orr Rink tomorrow at 3 p.m. and will host Bowdoin in another NESCAC showdown.