SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Skidmore College ice hockey team completed its final test before the upcoming New England Hockey Conference Tournament, getting past a feisty Johnson & Wales team by a 2-1 score, in league action at the Saratoga City Rink Saturday afternoon.
 
Skidmore (13-9-3, 9-6-3 NEHC) finishes an impressive turnaround regular season with its 13^th victory, the most wins since the 2008-09 season. The Thoroughbreds also earn a season sweep of Johnson & Wales (4-18-3, 2-14-2). More importantly, Skidmore will enter the upcoming NEHC Tournament as the sixth seed, and will travel to Babson for a NEHC Quarterfinal rematch on Feb. 16. The league seedings and tournament matchups will be made official on Monday.
 
Austin Rook began the Skidmore scoring and Tim Allen ended it, leading the Thoroughbreds. Adam Moodie and Matt Muzyka assisted on the game-winning goal. Moodie's assist was the senior captain's 50^th career point. For the second straight game, Brandon Kasel was near-perfect, with 28 saves to notch his 10^th victory of the season.
 
Bryan Colburn scored for Johnson & Wales, with Craig Hessenius and Connor Bechtel assisting. Saratoga native Tyler Ellor tallied 31 saves.
 
The Thoroughbreds had a few opportunities to score early in the game. At the 11:40 mark, Skidmore sprung out on a 2-on-1 break, with Owen Campbell getting a solid shot on goal, but the chance was parried away by Ellor. Two minutes later, a shot by Rook brought Ellor outside of the crease, and the puck bounced away from the goalie into the waiting stick of Will Steele. He had a good shot on a partially open net, but the shot was deflected by the Wildcat defense.
 
Skidmore was finally able to solve Ellor two minutes later at 13:43. Rook made a great defensive play to pick off the puck on his own end, then skated by a JWU defender and patiently shot the puck past Ellor, stick-side for his seventh of the season.
 
JWU had few chances, but capitalized on one near the end of the period, tying the game at one. Kasel made a jumping save on a Craig Hessenius shot, but Bryan Colburn corralled the rebound and pushed the shot past the Skidmore netminder at 19:14.
 
Skidmore got the eventual game-winner midway through the second period. Off a JWU shot, the Thoroughbreds raced out on the odd-man rush. Moodie and Muzyka found Allen at the slot, who faked right and finished left to give Skidmore a 2-1 lead at 10:27.
 
The Wildcats had one golden opportunity to tie the game early in the third period, as Trevor Momot's shot hit the crossbar and away from trouble. Kasel and the Skidmore defense was solid from that moment on. The goalie made 13 third-period saves and the Thoroughbred 'D' blocked a plethora of others, finishing off the regular season with a win.
 
Skidmore outshot JWU by a 33-29 margin in the game, and won 43 of 68 face-offs.