Men’s hockey wins and ties on weekend

The Middlebury men’s hockey team started the second leg of its season successfully, emerging victorious in the 18th annual Middlebury College Holiday Classic the weekend of Jan 2-3. The men first defeated Babson on Saturday afternoon, earning a spot to play in the tournament final against the University of Southern Maine.

The Panthers avenged their Dec. 12 tie against Southern Maine, beating the Huskies soundly, 5-2. Moreover, the team handed the loss to Middlebury head coach Bill Beaney’s brother, who happens to serve as head coach at Southern Maine.

"The team put together two strong games,” said tri-captain Bryan Curran ’11. “It was nice to win the Holiday Classic in front of our hometown faithful.” John Sullivan ’10, another tri-captain, was especially pleased with the team’s defensive play.

"Defensively, we have to keep playing like we did this past weekend,” he said. “That is how our group is going to be successful this year.”

The Panther defense certainly lived up to expectations in last Friday’s NESCAC matchup against Hamilton, allowing just one goal in a tight game that saw Middlebury emerge on top, 3-1. Despite trailing after the first period, in which Hamilton scored on a power play goal, the Panthers fought back in the second and third periods to nail down a win.

Both teams threatened in the second period, but Middlebury finally put away the equalizer towards the end, when Mathieu Dubuc ’13 hit a slap shot on a Panther power play. In the third period, the defense remained solid and held Hamilton at bay, despite increasingly desperate and aggressive play from the Continentals. The Panthers offense fought hard and scored twice late in the game, clinching an exhilarating 3-1 victory.

The final moments of the game provided some unexpected excitement for fans as the Continentals were hit with double penalties when Jerome Wallace and Anthony Ruberto launched into an altercation with Middlebury’s Curran.

All three sat out the remaining 40 seconds of the game, but not before referees battled to break up what looked to become a heated argument.

Nevertheless, to end the game on a positive note, Martin Drolet ’12 placed a clean goal in an empty net with less than 20 seconds remaining.

The Panthers faced increased competition the next day, battling neck-and-neck with Amherst as the game went back and forth between the two teams. Though the Lord Jeffs netted a point on the scoreboard only five minutes into the game, the Panthers answered early into the second period with a goal from Tufts transfer Nick Resor ’12 off a rebound from Charles Nerback ’12.

Two minutes later Amherst scored. Exactly 20 seconds went by, and tri-captain Charlie Townsend ’10 launched the puck past Amherst goaltender Cole Anderson. As Middlebury fans rejoiced, Amherst retaliated, staying afloat as the game moved to 3-2 in favor of the Jeffs.

“We came out pretty flat in the first period,” said Sullivan, adding that the Panthers could have beaten the Jeffs had their first period play been a bit smoother.

“However, in the last two periods we controlled the play and took over the momentum of the game.”

Bolstered by the intense action on both sides of the ice, the teams remained about evenly matched throughout the rest of the period, lobbing the puck around both goals with an equal number of shots for both teams. Penalties plagued each side as the players reacted to missed opportunities but by the first minute of the second period, Vermonter Trevor Pollock ’13 notched a third goal for Middlebury to tie the game.

“We came into the third period down 3-2 and came back with a goal from [Pollock], which was his first career goal,” continued Sullivan. “This was a big game, especially considering the fact that we lost to Amherst in the NESCAC finals last year, and we pretty happy with the outcome.”

Though neither side scored again on Saturday, both teams battled hard for a win, only to leave the ice content with a tie. The Panthers move to 6-1-3 on the season, with two conference games coming up this weekend in Connecticut at Trinity and Wesleyan.

“I think after a strong week of practice we will be prepared to compete during our next challenge,” said goaltender Max Kennedy ’10. I’m excited for it and I know everyone else is.”