Men’s hockey stumbles on a patch of rough ice

The Middlebury men’s hockey team’s 2010-2011 season has certainly been an up and down affair, with this last weekend’s set of ECAC East home games against Skidmore and Castleton State leaving the team with much to improve upon before the NESCAC tournament begins this coming weekend.

With conference tournament seeding on the line, the Panthers found themselves battling late in the third period to tie Skidmore with a record of 9-12-3, and then were outmatched by 21-3-1 Castleton State. Says head coach Bill Beaney, the team was well aware that this past weekend’s results would have repercussions down the line.

“They are bright kids. They knew the standings and they knew what was at stake,” said Beaney. “We focused on going out and playing our game, and at this time of the year there are clearly things we need to work on to get better.”

Friday’s game against Skidmore was the second meeting between the two squads this season, with Middlebury taking the first matchup 6-3 on New Year’s Day. However, an early goal by Skidmore had Middlebury battling back right from the start.

Skidmore netted the game’s first goal at the 1:30 mark of the first period, when Alex Essaris scored his second of the year on a shot from the right wing. Middlebury answered nine minutes later, with Chris Brown ’13 scoring his first goal of the year off a behind the net feed from Tom Cantwell ’12, also assisted by Charles Nerbak ’12.

In the second period, Chaz Svoboda ’11 scored his second tally of the year assisted by Charlie Strauss ’12 and Martin Drolet ’11 two and a half minutes in to give Middlebury a 2-1 lead. Goalie John Yanchek ’12 played well throughout the second period, stopping a flurry of Thoroughbred shots before finally conceding Skidmore’s second goal on a power play at the 7:39 mark.

In the third, the game seemed destined to head to OT at 2-2 when Skidmore scored on a breakaway, giving the Panthers just three minutes to respond. However, 25 seconds later Nerbak scored his sixth of the year, assisted by Mathieu Castonguay ’13 and Brown.

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