Women fight through triple overtime thriller

Author: Seth Miran

Imagine playing 60 minutes of physically and emotionally draining hockey. After those 60 minutes, imagine doing it all over again.

That was more or less what the women's hockey team did on Sunday in the thrilling NESCAC Championship game at Kenyon Arena, when the Panthers fell 2-1 to the Amherst Lord Jeffs in triple overtime. The game was the longest women's hockey game in NCAA Division III women's hockey history.

The excitement started long before overtime with both teams creating many great scoring chances early on. The Lord Jeffs' Tarasai Karega hit the post 3:15 into the game. The Panthers' Abby Kurtz-Phelan '07, named NESCAC Player of the Year last week, did the same only 4:30 later.

Kurtz-Phelan became the fourth Middlebury women's hockey player named Player of the Year in the past five years. Fellow senior Shannon Tarrant '07 joined her on the All-NESCAC first team while Captain Shannon Sylvester '07, sharp shooter Annmarie Cellino '09 and goalie Lani Wright '10 earned second-team All-NESCAC honors.

The scoring chances continued until Amherst's Anna MacLean finally notched the first goal of the game at the 15:01 mark of the first period. From behind the net, Lord Jeff Lindsey Harrington slid the puck in front of the crease to a waiting MacLean, who stuffed home the puck.

Middlebury answered right back 1:48 later. On the power play, Tarrant sent a pass to Karen Levin '08 at the left face-off circle, who then whizzed the puck past Amherst netminder Krystyn Elek to tie the game at one.

On most days, that goal would seem relatively innocuous. At the end of this day, however, it seemed quite remarkable, as the goal was the only one of the Panthers' 66 shots that made it into the net as Elek made a NESCAC Tournament record 65 saves.

Following Levin's goal, 85:15 of scoreless play ensued. Some of Middlebury's best chances in regulation came during their dominant performance in the second period. The Panthers outshot Amherst 18-2 in the second frame, but were unable to light the lamp with any of those 18.

Momentum changed hands for the majority of the third period, with Amherst generating the best scoring chances. Wright came up huge in the clutch, making a couple of incredible saves.

With the score knotted at 1-1 after regulation, the game spilled over into overtime. The Panthers had a record of 1-1-2 in overtime games this season heading into Sunday. The game-winner in their lone overtime loss to Plattsburgh came a mere 44 seconds into extra time. On Sunday, the suffering dragged on longer, as the game-winner came 41:54 into extra time.

Even though Middlebury dominated play throughout much of the first two overtimes, the Lord Jeffs made their few chances count. MacLean snatched up a rebound and notched her second goal of the game 1:54 into the third overtime. With the goal, Amherst earned a NESCAC championship and its first berth into the NCAA tournament. Middlebury earned an at-large bid to NCAAs in spite of the loss.

Middlebury earned the right to play for a NESCAC championship on Sunday with a 7-2 victory over the Hamilton Continentals. The Panthers entered the second period trailing 2-1, but turned it on with three power play goals in the period and never looked back.

Tarrant tied that game at two goals apiece with a blast from the point on the power play 2:24 into the second frame. Kurtz-Phelan scored her second goal of the game, tipping in a shot by Sylvester at the 8:33 mark. Ashley Bairos '10 slammed home a rebound with 5:01 remaining to complete the Panthers' power play hat trick in the second period.

Bairos found the net again in the third period with her second power play goal of the game. Sylvester poked in a rebound 6:23 into the period to make it 6-2. Molly Vitt '09 closed out the scoring with a power play goal of her own - the Panthers' fifth of the game - with 3:16 left.

The joy felt after the victory over Hamilton was overshadowed by the despair following the loss to Amherst. The Panthers will look to rebound on Friday as they host an NCAA quarterfinal game against Manhattanville at 7 p.m. in Kenyon Arena.

"Right now we are just thinking about the game ahead of us," said Tarrant. "We are really glad to have another game to play and need to focus on doing the little things that will get us ready to play come Friday night."