Men's Hockey Heads NESCAC Field in Tourney

Author: David Lindholm

At the very least, the Middlebury men's hockey team will be fresh heading into Saturday's New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) semifinal match against Colby College. After winning the NESCAC title this season, the Panthers earned the right to host the end of season tournament, which will send the winner into the NCAA tournament.

While Middlebury rested, Colby was battling for NESCAC survival. The White Mules are coming off a huge win last week over Hamilton. Despite their sixth seed in NESCAC at the end of the season, Colby traveled to New York and demolished their hosts, the third-seeded Continentals. Only one week earlier, Hamilton had come away with a 5-2 win at Colby, but in the rematch it was the Mules who earned the right to make the trip to Middlebury.

The Panthers will have to be wary of a Colby team that is capable of upsets, especially on the road. In addition to the playoff win over Hamilton, the Mules had also recently knocked off a Bowdoin College team, now ranked seventh nationally. Colby now owns a record of 15-6-3.

The Panthers have won 12 straight games, and have had sufficient time to prepare for this Saturday's match-up at 12:30 p.m. in Kenyon Arena.

"Every year we won the national championship [1995-1999] we had a break like this, an opportunity to recharge our batteries," said Head Coach Bill Beaney. "The trick of it is not to lose that competitive spirit."

In Saturday's other match, fourth-seed Trinity College will take on second-seed Bowdoin. The Polar Bears have been faltering in recent weeks and were barely able to squeak by an Amherst College team that had a 6-13-5 record coming into the game. Bowdoin is still considered one of the nation's top teams, but has lost their only three matches of the year in the last three weeks.

Trinity, who calmly disposed of Williams last weekend by a score of 4-1, is on their top form. In their last 14 games, the only two losses have come to Middlebury and Bowdoin.

The Bantams will be looking for an upset and revenge on an earlier loss when they face the Polar Bears at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, one hour after the end of the Middlebury game.