Courtesy Trinity Sports Information

Box Score

PINE VALLEY, N.Y. – Freshman defenseman Karl Linden (Stockholm, Sweden) scored two goals to lead Elmira to a 6-1 victory over visiting Trinity in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament Saturday evening at the Murray Athletic Center. Elmira improves to 20-3-5 and advances to the semifinal round against Plattsburgh St. on Saturday, March 22 at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The Bantams close the year at 16-11-2 with their first loss in four games.

“We took some early penalties that put us in an extremely difficult hole, particularly against a team with that level of skill,” said Trinity Head Coach David Cataruzolo. “At some point, we will reflect on this, but we are very disappointed in tonight’s outcome. It has been a very special run for us.”

Elmira scored three times in the first period, including the game’s first goal by Linden after senior captain Michael Richard (LaSalle, Quebec) won a face-off in the right circle and fed Linden for the quick score 5:47 into the contest. The puck spent the majority of its time in Trinity defensive zone in the first stanza, although Bantam sophomore forward Naoto Hamashima (Tokyo, Japan) got off a decent shot on a wrap-around from behind the goal on the right side that was knocked away by Elmira sophomore goal Casey Tuttle (Chelsea, Maine). The Bantams were whistled for three penalties in the middle of the first, and Elmira took advantage with one goal on a 5x4 situation by junior defenseman Nic Dumoulin (Prevost, Quebec) and a breakaway score by sophomore Rusty Masters (Grafton, Ontario) for a 3-0 Soaring Eagle lead at the first break.

Elmira continued its pressure early in the second stanza, hitting two posts in the first three minutes. The Bantam offense regrouped and put several shots on Tuttle during a couple of early power play opportunities, but none got past. Elmira junior Derrick Ryan (Fournier, Ontario) took a nice pass off the boards down the right side by freshman forward Rick Schrank (Newmarket, Ontario) and made a nice move from right to left to beat Bantam freshman goalie Wesley Vesprini (Lexington, Mass.) for a 4-0 Soaring Eagle lead. Elmira added another goal late in the second, but Trinity came out strong to start the third frame, as junior co-captain forward Ryan Masucci (Winthrop, Mass.) and freshman forward Adam Houli (Howell, N.J.) each had shots get past Tuttle only to carom the goal. Hamashima secured a full season of not being shutout when he flipped the puck over the net from behind off a Soaring Eagle defender and into the goal. The Elmira defense held strong the rest of the way and the home team added its sixth goal with 3:43 remaining in the contest.

Vesprini finished with 22 saves and Tuttle stopped 27 shots, including 10 in the final period. Houli led Trinity with six shots on net. Trinity had a two-game winning streak against Elmira snapped, and finishes the year with its highest win total since 2005’s campaign (21).

Trinity senior co-captain forward Dan Maturi (North Kingstown, R.I.), who played in the national semifinals as a rookie, stated, “We started the year as an immature bunch of guys without a whole lot of leadership, but at a certain point of the season we all decided to become a team.”