NEW LONDON, CT - Tim DiPretoro (Philadelphia, PA) scored a pair of second-period goals 2:36 apart to lead the Connecticut College men's hockey team to a critical 5-2 NESCAC victory against Tufts University at Dayton Arena Friday night.
The Camels (6-10-3, 2-8-3) move three points ahead of Tufts (6-11-2, 1-10-2) and remain two points ahead of Colby (4-13-2, 2-10-1) for the eighth and final spot in the NESCAC playoff picture as they head to Tufts for their showdown at Valley Forum II tomorrow afternoon.
JC Cangelosi (Estero, FL) and Kevin Reich (Montvale, NJ) both contributed with a goal and two assists in the win. Junior captain Keith Veronesi (South Glastonbury, CT) dished out four assists in the triumph. Tom Conlin (Norwood, MA) made 36 saves in goal.
Kyle Gallegos (Westminster, CT) scored his ninth goal of the season for the visitors. Luke Griffin (Arlington, MA) netted his second score of the year for Tufts. Junior netminder Brian Phillips (Colleyville, TX) made 31 saves in the setback.
Both goalies kept their teams in contention in the first period. Phillips made two stops on Veronesi while Conlin made a nice stop on Aidan Hartigan's (Arlington, MA) shot with 5:40 remaining for the Jumbos.
The Camels had the first power play of the game with 2:11 remaining in the first. But the visitors nearly spoiled it when Brian Ouellette (Arlington, MA) and Tyler Voigt (Rochester, MN) broke free in a 2-on-1 situation, but a high-stick was called and the game remained scoreless.
In the second period, the Camels scored three consecutive goals, two coming off of the stick of DiPretoro, who has eight markers in his nascent career. Veronesi assisted on both scores with the second helper coming on a nifty looking feed from the left dot to DiPretoro at the right post. Later on with 13:12 remaining in the second, Dawson Luke (Wellesley, MA) unloaded from the point with a shot that found its way through traffic to put the Camels on top 3-0 with 11:08 remaining.
Tufts responded though, scoring the next two goals. Griffin put one in from his backhand with 7:25 remaining in the second to make it a 3-2 game.
However, Reich added an important insurance goal with 9:11 remaining, with assists coming from Cangelosi and Veronesi to make it a 4-2 score. The Jumbos nearly got one back with 6:29 to go when junior David Carson (Avon Lake, OH) made a long pass through the neutral zone to Tim Mitropoulos (Winchester, MA), who went in alone on Conlin. The rookie netminder was able to make the big-time save from point-blank range.
Cangelosi tacked on another insurance marker with 4:49 remaining and the Camels were able to hold on for the 5-2 win.
All three stars of Friday night's game went to the hockey community that celebrated the Green Dot Program, a campus initiative to prevent power-based personal violence through bystander intervention. The teams will come together again in their support of the prevention of violence against women tomorrow afternoon in the game at Tufts.
Game Box Score
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Game recap courtesy of Connecticut College
