Panthers surge past Bowdoin in title game

The men’s hockey team successfully returned to the top of the NESCAC as they won the title last Sunday afternoon, skating against Bowdoin on Maine ice and defeating the Polar Bears 3-2 with a last-minute goal by tri-captain Charlie Townsend ’10. Going into the tournament, the Panthers certainly had a lot to prove.

Despite the fact that Middlebury beat Bowdoin 5-2 during the regular season, the Polar Bears had still earned the first seed in NESCAC tournament play.

Furthermore, the Panthers’ domination in the NESCAC has been challenged of late; the past two years, Middlebury failed to win NESCAC championships and consequently did not receive a bid into the NCAA playoffs.

The men took to the ice with a vengeance on Saturday afternoon as they contested Trinity in the semifinal match. They skated to a 4-2 win over Trinity. The men started strong and were up 4-0 by the end of the second period.

Two of the four goals were scored on power play opportunities, and four different players scored, showing the depth of the Panther offense. Ken Suchoski ’11 started the scoring on the power play, assisted by Townsend and tri-captain Bryan Curran ’11.

Middlebury picked up the intensity in the second period, with goals by all-NESCAC forward Martin Drolet ’12 and Mathieu Dubuc ’13. Fantastic defense during a five-on-three situation during the second period kept the Panthers up by three.

Late in the period, the Panthers had a five-on-three opportunity of their own, and the Bantams witnessed tri-captain John Sullivan ’10 score his first goal of the game.

The Bantams had a plethora of opportunities to score late in the game, including a two-man advantage and an open-net situation in the closing minutes of the game, but failed to find the net.

John Yanchek ’12 was strong between the pipes for Middlebury, making 26 saves. Eleven of these saves came in the first period, preventing Trinity from getting an early lead, which the Panthers have sometimes found difficult to rebound from. This victory earned Middlebury a spot in the NESCAC finals the following day, where they would face Bowdoin.

The return to the NESCAC finals meant a lot to all of the players, but it was especially significant for returning players who had watched their team fall in the finals for two straight years after nearly a decade of NESCAC dominance.

For all the seniors on the team, Sunday marked their last chance to play in a NESCAC final. The pressure was on, and in front of 2,300 fans in Bowdoin’s Watson Arena and many more watching online, the men took to the ice.

“The atmosphere at Bowdoin was unreal,” commented Chris Brown ’13. “I think our whole team really fed off of being the away team in such a packed house. The [Middlebury] fans who made the trek to support us really made it special, too.”

The Panthers started the game strong, seeing two goals in the first period from Dubuc, who has proven himself to be a prolific scorer. The first of these two goals came after a Bowdoin penalty, when Dubuc scored off of a picture-perfect feed from Charlie Strauss ’12. Dubuc again found net off of a Nick Resor ’12 feed during a five-on-three power play later in the period.

“Bowdoin is one of the most physical teams we play, and we took advantage of the power plays to score two goals,” said Chris Steele .’13

Bowdoin gained some momentum in the second period as Polar Bear Ryan Blossom scored on a breakaway. During the second period, the teams traded five-on-three power play opportunities, but neither could find the back of the net.

The first part of the third period saw frantic play with lots of hustle, but neither team capitalized on any scoring opportunity until Bowdoin tied the game with 9:23 to play.

The excitement mounted as the seconds ticked away and the game looked like it would surely go into an overtime period. As the clock passed two minutes, the puck was on the Panthers’ defensive end and they were fiercely fighting off Bowdoin’s offense.

“The leadership on the team really helped us get through the game, keeping us aggressive even after Bowdoin tied it,” said Eric Zagorski ’13.

When play was tipped into the neutral zone, Townsend seized the opportunity to run away with the puck. After getting a feed from AJ Meyer ’10, Townsend emerged with it, skated into the Bowdoin zone and shot from the right circle. His shot hit the top left corner of the goal, putting Middlebury up 3-2 with 1:42 on the clock. Watson Arena went silent.

The Polar Bears pulled their goalie at 1:34, but couldn’t score the tying goal, giving the Panthers their first NESCAC championship since 2007. For his effort in the game, Townsend was named NESCAC Player of the Week, culminating a fantastic four years of Middlebury hockey.

“Every single person came out and played three periods of good hockey, right down to the last minute when [Townsend] blocked a shot and cleared out of our zone to seal the win,” said Brown. “We’ll have to come ready to do the same on Saturday.”

By winning the tournament, the men earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The first round, hosted by Middlebury in Kenyon Arena this Saturday, pits the Panthers against Plattsburgh, which will not be an easy matchup. Plattsburgh and Middlebury have split games this year.

Coming off of a loss in the SUNYAC conference championship, the Plattsburgh team will be hungry to prove itself to the Panthers, who emerged victorious in their last meeting in January. As of March 8, the Panthers are ranked fourth on the USCHO poll, with Plattsburgh sitting just behind them in fifth. With their first NCAA tournament appearance in the past three years, the Panthers are looking to reassert their dominance not only in the NESCAC, but also in all of Division III hockey.