The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 1/13/05 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Albert Bitici Sophomore Brett Shirreffs forms a part of the stalwart Middlebury rear-guard.

The men's hockey team had much to prove coming into the New Year. They handled everything that was thrown at them in 2004 finishing off the year with a nearly unblemished record of 6-0-1. They continued their undefeated season starting off the year with a perfect NCAA record of 3-0 while tying the U.S. under-18 National Team.

While most students were at home celebrating the New Year with friends and family, the men's hockey team was at Middlebury participating in the Holiday Classic on January first and second. There they faced off against New York State rival Skidmore defeating them by the score of 3-1 and then tying U.S. National Team 2-2.

The Panthers continued their nation-leading stingy defense on the first evening of 2005 by holding Skidmore to a mere 16 shots on net for the entirety of the game. In addition they tacked on two power play goals to seal the deal maintaining their position in the national top 10 in power percentage.

Brian Phinney's '05 two goals and Patrick Nugent's '05 lone goal were all the Panthers needed to skate past Skidmore.

Phinney scored his first goal of the season 8:27 into the first period, unassisted, to give Middlebury the lead for good. He followed up his first goal of the season with his second goal with 7:56 left in the second period on the power play to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead. Nugent scored his third goal of the season 8:11 into the second period on the power play.

Mark Spadaccini '06 made 15 saves to earn his first win as a Panther in his first career start. The Panthers faced a tougher opponent the following afternoon, the U-18 National Team, which nearly defeated Division I-University of New Hampshire. In the game, Middlebury fell behind early by the score of 2-0. The Panthers, however, showed their resilience by scoring two goals in the final two periods to even the score at two. Tim Graham '05 chipped in his fourth goal of the season with an assist going to Rob MacIntyre '08. Freshman Scott Bartlett scored the game-tying goal at 8:56 of the third period. Yen-I Chen '06 made 28 saves in the tying effort.

The Panthers followed up their New Year's weekend with a couple of wins against NESCAC rivals Connecticut College and Tufts. Middlebury struggled to find the back of the net against a presumably weak Connecticut College opponent, but managed to score just enough goals in order to earn the victory, but not without giving up the lead in the middle of the third period.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools