WATERVILLE, ME - Amherst College sophomore forward Steve Nelson scored his seventh goal of the season just over five minutes into the third period to salvage a 4-4 overtime tie in a men's hockey matchup at NESCAC rival Colby College on Friday night. The tie, along with Wesleyan University's 5-3 win at Conn. College on Friday night, locks Amherst (11-9-3/6-9-2) into the eighth and final seed in the NESCAC Postseason Championship Tournament, which kicks off next Saturday, February 28.

At Colby on Friday night, the Jeffs took an early 3-1 lead on a first-period goal by Roy Mabrey and a pair of second period scoring strikes by Jon Hill and Beau Kretzman. Colby battled back just 29 seconds after Kretzman's tally when Ross MacMillan connected. Kevin Lyons then knotted the score at 3-3 14:29 into the second period, and Patrick Walsh gave the Mules their first lead of the game 2:40 into the third, setting the stage for Nelson's game-tying heroics.

Amherst goalie Dan Smith finished with 38 saves, including three in overtime, as Colby outshot the Jeffs 42-21. Ben Grandjean tallied 17 saves for the Mules. Colby moved to 12-6-4 overall and 9-4-4 in NESCAC play.

Amherst closes the regular season tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Bowdoin College.