Adam Kaiser '13 Scores Twice, Sam Robinson '10 Nets Winner as Cards Down St. Anselm, 5-2

Sam Robinson '13 (#24, photo insert lower left by SteveMcLaughlinPhotography.com) broke a 2-2 tie with 5:11 remaining in the third period, and Wesleyan added two more goals to take a 5-2 victory over St. Anselm in a league battle Sat., Jan. 30. Wesleyan improved to 3-10-0 in NESCAC/ECAC East play with the victory, improving the team's playoff hopes with six regular-season game remaining.

Robinson fired a wrist shot through traffic in front of the net that went between the legs of the St. Anselm keeper for his third goal of the season. Wesleyan extended its lead to 4-2 with 1:19 left when Adam Kaiser '13 (#29, photo insert upper left by SteveMcLaughlinPhotography.com) netted his second goal of the contest and fourth of the season, and the Cardinals added an empty-netter off the stick of Brett Bandazian '12, his sixth of the season, with 50 seconds left for the final margin.

Following a scoreless first period, St. Anselm struck first with a goal at the 9:04 mark of the second period. Wesleyan answered with a pair of goals for a 2-1 lead at intermission. Geoff Mucha '12 scored on a breakaway off a pass from Bandazian at 15:44 for his fourth seasonal goal, and Kaiser gave Wesleyan the lead at 18:33, putting in a rebound in front of the goal with the Hawks goalie out of position.

St. Anselm tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play marker midway through the third frame before Robinson, Kaiser and Bandazian wrapped up the scoring.

Tim Archibald '10 (#1, right side of photo) had a strong showing in the Cardinal net, making 40 saves as Wesleyan held a 52-42 edge in shots.

With the win, Wesleyan improved to 7-1-1 in its last nine games against St. Anselm after losing its first 10 games against the Hawks. The teams have met every year since 1995-96 and also played four straight seasons from 1971-75.

Resuming play in a virtually must-win contest at Tufts Fri., Feb. 6, Wesleyan found itself in a 3-0 hole and never got closer than two goals in falling by an 8-5 score. Wesleyan got a pair of third-period markers from A.J. Ferraro '12 while Robinson, David Layne '10 and Jeff Beck '10 also lit the lamp for the Cardinals. The last six goals of the game, three for each team, came with the Cardinals net open as Tufts hit the empty net three times. Wesleyan countered with three goals while playing with an extra attacker, the final two by Ferraro with the Cardinals on the power-play as well. Wesleyan peppered the Jumbo net with 47 shots, 20 in the third period alone, to 34 by the host.

The loss damaged the Cardinals post-season hopes considerably as Tufts pulled seven points ahead in eighth place with just five games remaining. Wesleyan finished the weekend at Conn. College Sat., Feb. 6 against another squad in danger of being left out of the NESCAC tournament. Wesleyan battled back from a 2-0 deficit with goals by Beck and Ferraro to even the score in the second period but Conn broke the tie with 15 seconds left in the middle stanza and it stood up as the game-winner. The Cardinals pulled keeper Glenn Stowell '13, who had 30 saves, for the final 1:28 but had no luck finding the tying tally.

Wesleyan hosts Colby Fri., Feb. 12 and Bowdoin Sat., Feb. 13 in must-win contests. The Cardinals cannot afford another loss if they have any hope of qualifying for the NESCAC tournament. The game vs. Bowdoin will be webcast and a link to view the contest is available on the athletics home page under "Webcasts."

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