At 5-feet-9, Neil Conway isn’t the biggest player on the ice for the men’s hockey team at Hamilton College. But the sophomore center from Marshfield via Thayer Academy has provided a large presence for the Continentals (13-7-4, 8-6-4 NESCAC), delivering 12 goals and 16 assists, which ties him for the team lead in helpers.

After registering three goals and eight assists as a freshman, Conway attributes his increase in production to a strong offseason workout program that added 15 pounds of muscle to his 170-pound frame.

Earlier this season, during Hamilton’s 11-game unbeaten streak, Conway netted goals in three consecutive games. The Continentals open play in the NESCAC quarterfinals on Saturday, hosting Middlebury.

Q. Your numbers are way up from your freshman season. Did you do anything special to prepare for this season?

A. At the end of last season, coach [Rob Haberbusch] gave the team a challenge to come back hungrier and to take care of unfinished business. The team really took that to heart. But what you don’t see are the countless hours the team puts in at the gym and on the track in order to get better as a team. I am only as successful as the team is. I didn’t do anything special per se; I just put in the necessary work so that I could help the team be successful.

Q. What is your biggest asset on the ice?

A. I would like to think [it is] having poise with the puck. I like having the puck on my stick and making plays. The game is obviously moving at such a fast pace, but slowing the game down even for a split-second gives you space to make that tape to tape pass or to pick a corner on a shot.

Q. Do you have a player at the pro level that you model your game after?

A. I love watching Patrice Bergeron play. I have tried to mirror my game on his, particularly the level of emphasis he puts on taking care of the defensive zone first. Taking care of the puck in your own zone opens up rushes and makes the game a whole lot easier.

Q. When did you start playing hockey?

A. In preschool with my best friend Jon Spitz. Every day after school Jon’s mom would take us to the Pilgrim Skating Arena in Hingham to learn to skate. We had to skate around with milk crates in the beginning, but the feeling you get skating around is addictive and that love for the sport never left me.

Q. Do you have a most memorable goal from college, high school or youth hockey?

A. I think every goal I score is memorable for me because you only play so many games in your hockey career and you never know when your last goal will be. I love the feeling of scoring and as long as the team is successful and we keep playing games I am more then content.

Q. What do you like to do when you are not playing hockey?

A. I like to just hang out with friends, play video games, watch TV or fish. In the winter season I have been volunteering with the Boston Bear Cubs hockey team for the last nine years. The team is comprised of autistic and Down Syndrome children who share the same love for the game as I do. It makes it easy waking up early in the morning to see their smiling faces and aspirations to get better at the game we love.

Q. What has been the toughest class you have taken?

A. I recently just declared as an economics major and government minor. The toughest class I am currently enduring is Banks in the Economy. It’s a crash course on becoming the next Wolf of Wall Street.

Q. Favorite TV show?

A. The Sons of Anarchy. It keeps you on your feet each episode and always has action and a new twist every time.

JOHN JOHNSON

John Johnson can be reached at jjohnson49@comcast.net.