Canton natives compete in NCAA DIII tournament
By Jay TurnerCanton was well represented at this year’s NCAA Division III men’s ice hockey national championship weekend in Lake Placid, New York, with two of the final four teams featuring homegrown talent.
Nick O’Connor, a junior forward on the Colby College Mules, saw action in the semifinal game against St. Norbert’s College, and Colin Clapton, a senior forward on the Salve Regina Seahawks, was a key part of that school’s run to the national title game.
O’Connor’s team put up a valiant effort in the national semifinals against the eventual champion Green Knights, battling back from an early three-goal deficit and twice making it a one-score game before falling in the end 4-3. Prior to their elimination, the Mules had been red-hot, winning six straight games, including NCAA tournament victories against the University of New England and SUNY Geneseo as well as all three of their NESCAC tournament games. O’Connor, a former CHS standout and Berkshire School graduate, had a pair of helpers in both the conference and NCAA tournaments and finished the campaign with 10 goals and 13 assists.
Clapton, meanwhile, was similarly impactful for the nationally ranked Seahawks, registering 13 goals and eight assists and appearing in all 30 games (22-6-2). In the NCAA tournament, Clapton’s team earned a first-round bye and then knocked off Nichols College in the quarterfinals 4-3 to advance to the final four. In their semifinal game in Lake Placid, the Seahawks defeated highly ranked University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point 3-0, making history as the school’s first ever varsity sport to make an appearance in an NCAA championship game. Salve would go on to lose the title game 3-2, but not before giving the Green Knights everything they could handle as part of a double-overtime thriller that featured almost 90 minutes of back-and-forth, heart-pounding action.
For more information about this year’s NCAA Division III men’s ice hockey tournament, including game recaps and video highlights, go to www.ncaa.com/sports/icehockey-men/d3.
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Posted by Jay Turner
on Apr 6 2018. Filed under Beyond CHS, Sports.
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