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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024

Men’s Hockey Bested by Local Rivals on Home Turf

Ten games remain for the mystifying Middlebury men’s hockey team (6-6-2), who fell short this weekend against two strong out-of-conference opponents, fourth-ranked Plattsburgh (14-1-2) and fifth-ranked Norwich (12-3-2). Seventeen hundred fans came out on Friday night and juiced up Kenyon arena — an energy that the players matched with superb quality of play.

Borrowing words from the Middlebury fight song, Friday night’s contest against Plattsburgh certainly qualified as a “hot time in the old town” despite the final score. Plenty of shoving, jersey grabbing, and devious slaps to the legs filled up the time between whistles for the two well-acquainted teams.

“I love playing in those kinds of [physical] games,” Thomas Freyre ’14 said. “We are so grateful to our fans, from the town and the college, for coming out and supporting us.”

Plattsburgh started hot in their Soviet red jerseys and tested Nick BonDurant ’14 with the first six shots of the night. John Barr ’14 nearly scored on Middlebury’s first shot and then hustled to break up a quick 2-on-1 for Plattsburgh with a brilliant dive. After 18 minutes of play, Middlebury finally ceded a goal and would therein play catch-up.

Sixteen seconds into the second period, a Plattsburgh Cardinal sped down the right wing and laid it softly into the net-charging path of his two line mates who knocked over the net and the puck crossed for the second goal of the game.

Derek Pimentel ’15 converted a rebound opportunity two minutes later off a low blast from Brendan McGovern ’16 and the souvenir white pom-poms danced visibly around the arena. Then, two sudden penalties and an unsportsmanlike conduct for Plattsburgh gave Middlebury a long 5-on-3 power play but Plattsburgh’s goaltender, Mathieu Cadieux, shut down several great scoring opportunities to preserve the visitors’ 2-1 lead.

In the third period, the Cardinals knocked in a third goal on a power play, but gritty corner work by Barr set up Louis Belisle ’14 to zip a snap shot under the goalies arm just one minute later to draw within one. The clock wound down with no regard for Middlebury’s comeback effort, and with a minute left the aggressive final push of the Panthers opened up a breakaway for Plattsburgh and the game ended 4-2.

The feisty contest versus Plattsburgh taxed on the Panthers, who dragged in their 5-2 loss to Norwich.

“BonDurant was the only reason we were only down 2-0 after the first period,” Freyre said.

Midway through the game, Evan Neugold ’16 created a terrific chance to tighten the score, but instead Norwich deflected the blow and scored seconds later to plunge Middlebury in a 3-0 hole. Late in the third period, trailing 5-0, Zach Haggerty ’17 and Belisle each found the back of the net to make the scoreboard more respectable.

Last season, Middlebury won seven of its last 10 games, scoring 46 goals and allowing just 20 over that stretch. If the Panthers can replicate their late-season success from a season ago, they could make a run into the postseason.

“I think we will finish strong, even stronger than last year,” Ben Wiggins ’14 said. “The rest of the games are all [in conference], so people are really focused in.

For such a run to materialize, however the Panthers will need to improve in key areas.

“First, we need to make the most of our chances, which means being grittier in front of net and being hungry to score goals,” Wiggins said. “Second, we need to play good team defense and lastly, we need to have good goaltending.”

While BonDurant allowed nine goals in the past two games, his defenseman Wiggins has faith in the senior netminder.

“BonDurant stood on his head against Norwich, played really solid against Plattsburgh and shut out Wesleyan last weekend so we are really confident in him,” Wiggins said.

Home ice advantage in the NESCAC tournament remains in reach for Middlebury (4-3-1 in NESCAC), but only if the team can regain their winning ways. The Panthers head north to prove their mettle on the road against Bowdoin on Friday, Jan. 24, and Colby on Saturday, Jan. 25.


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