Waterville, Maine- The Colby Men's Ice Hockey team faced the Trinity College Bantams this past Saturday in the O'Neil | O'Donnell Forum on the campus of Colby College. The Mules were looking to improve to 4-2 in NESCAC play and 6-3 overall.  Despite facing top competition in Trinity and Wesleyan, the biggest for Colby this weekend would be hitting the ice with only 15 healthy skaters, six below the norm.  Overcoming fatigue and the novelty of new lines and on-ice partnerships, the Mules started the weekend hot with a 4-2 victory over the visiting Bantams.  
 
The first period got off to a very fast start with Henry Molson tipping in a puck fed from Connor Blanchard and Jack Sullivan just over one minute into play to give the Mules an early lead. The Mules would be able to fend off the Bantams and add onto their lead on a goal by John McElaney at 14:16, after he tipped in a feed in front of the goaltender from Michael Thomas and Max O'Brien to go up 2-0, maintaining this lead for the rest of the period.
 
The Bantams took control of the second period against the Mules, outshooting the Mules 11-9, despite the Mules having three power play opportunities. The Bantams finally broke through Andy Beran scoring with 44 seconds left in the second period, to bring the score heading into the final period 2-1 Mules.
 
Just over three and a half minutes into the third period, sophomore Griffin Grise carried the puck over the blue line and ripped a slapshot past the goaltender's right shoulder, giving the Mules a two-goal lead. The Bantams would not go down without a fight, scoring just over a minute later to cut the lead down to one. Trinity once again held the power in the final period, outshooting the Mules 9-3, but were unable to get another puck behind Beran. Senior Brian Sanzone sealed the win for the Mules, scoring a beautiful breakaway goal after picking the puck up in the neutral zone. Sanzone's goal would solidify the 4-2 for the Mules.
 
The Mules play again tomorrow, January 16, in Waterville, Maine in a NESCAC matchup against Wesleyan University at 4:00 PM. Go Mules!