Hockey Juggernaut Steams Towards Championship Showdown

Author: Andreas Apostolatos

After finishing the regular season with an 18-game undefeated streak, the Middlebury men's hockey team started off the post-season on an equally dominant note with a 7-1 rout of eighth-seeded Tufts in the opening round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tournament on Saturday. In the semifinal round scheduled for Sat., March 8, the number one seeded Panthers will face Hamilton, who managed a 6-3 upset of fourth-seeded Bowdoin.
"We were happy with how we played in the first two periods on Saturday but were disappointed we didn't finish the game on a high note," said Team Captain Rob Chisholm '03. "It was good for us to put a few pucks in the net and get feeling good about where we are but I'm sure everyone on the team is aware that the teams we will face from now on will prove a greater challenge for us than Tufts."
Middlebury started strong and never let up in its quarterfinal bout with last-place Tufts. The Panthers scored six goals before the Jumbos managed to notch a point on the scoreboard. First-year forward Tim Schneider scored a hat trick and had an assist, while Kevin Cooper '04 added two goals and two assists of his own. Schneider and Cooper lead Middlebury with a remarkable 35 points a piece through the regular season and first round of the NESCAC tournament.
The Panthers struck first on Schneider's goal with 13:28 remaining in the first period. Cooper then added his first goal of the contest during a power play with 48 seconds to play in the period.
In the second, Middlebury turned it up a notch, while Tufts simply seemed to give up. A testimony to the Panthers' all-out dominance of Tufts was their ability to hold the Jumbos to a total of 14 shots on goal for the entire game. Middlebury, by contrast, put Tufts goaltenders Ben Crapser and Matt Ninneman fast at work with 45 shots on target. Middlebury's scoring arsenal in the second period consisted of four goals, which, needless to say, gave the 2,032 fans in Kenyon Arena reason to stay on their feet.
Sophomore defenseman Brian Phinney commenced the stretch with a goal just 32 seconds into the period. Cooper then notched his second goal four minutes later during another Tufts power play. Assistant Captain Adam Foote '04 then gathered two consecutive assists as he found Schneider for his second goal at the 9:47 mark and Chisholm with 7:52 remaining in the second period. Tufts faced a 6-0 deficit going into the final 20 minutes.
In the game's final period the Jumbos did manage to escape a blowout with a goal by Adam Delaney-Winn with 15:26 to play. The Panthers pushed their lead back up to six when Schneider scored his third and final goal of the contest with 8:21 left. Panther fans left the game with their fill of goals and another date at Kenyon Arena this weekend.
Middlebury will face Hamilton this Saturday in its semifinal match scheduled for 1:00 p.m. In the other semifinal at 4:00 p.m. Trinity meets Colby in what should be a highly contested bid for the finals. Second-seeded Trinity needed overtime to oust Williams by 3-2 in its quarterfinal, while Colby had no problems in an 11-0 destruction of Amherst. Middlebury won its only regular season game against Hamilton on Feb. 7 by a score of 7-4. The Panthers also triumphed against Colby (5-1) and Trinity (4-2) in the regular season. The NESCAC finals will be played on Sunday, March 9 at 1:00 p.m. at Kenyon Arena.
"I think on Saturday we saw what things we are doing well at this point and also some things we need to work on," commented Chisholm.
"We'll spend this week in practice trying to iron out some of the problems we saw on Saturday to get us ready for Hamilton. Hamilton played us very tough last time we played them. They are the most physical team in our league, and we'll have to be prepared for a battle this Saturday. I don't think any of us were happy with how we played at Hamilton this year and so we'll be looking to make up for that with this second opportunity to play them. I look forward to a really tough, exciting and close game against a good team on Saturday."