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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024

Men’s Hockey Iced in NESCAC Playoff

A pain as heavy as a half-dozen hockey players followed Middlebury’s season-ending 6-3 loss to Bowdoin on Saturday, March 1. The Panthers saw an early lead slip away before the game became out-of-reach late.

Louis Belisle ’14 led the Panthers on offense, scoring two trademark power-play goals, fellow seniors Robbie Donahoe ’14, John Barr ’14, Michael Longo ’14, Ben Wiggins ’14, Nick BonDurant ’14 and Thomas Freyre ’14 all skated in their final game for the Panthers.

Playing in front of a packed house, the Panthers came out fast and loose from the puck drop. Youngster Mike Najjar ’17 lofted a creative pass over some Bowdoin defenders for a good chance, and minutes later Robbie Dobrowski ’15 freed up Longo on a break with a no-look dish in the neutral zone. Eventually, Derek Pimentel ’15 forced a Bowdoin hooking penalty and the power-play unit cashed in for the first goal. The quick release of Belisle beat the Bowdoin goalie on the blocker side, the puck snatching just an inch of his jersey on its way through.

The lead would be short-lived, as two minutes later Bowdoin intercepted a breakout of the Middlebury zone and unluckily the defender who dove to break up the shot tipped the opportune attacker’s shot perfectly under the cross bar. As Middlebury took the goal, Bowdoin quickly gained a power-play and one minute later surprised Panther goalie Liam Moorfield-Yee ’16 with a wraparound goal from behind the net.

Middlebury went into the second period with an extended six-on-four advantage, and did not disappoint. Belisle threaded a wrister through a quarrelsome traffic jam and past a hopeless Bowdoin goalie to even the score.

Once more, Bowdoin responded immediately. For Moorfield-Yee, the width of his stick handle was enough to parry away the first point blank shot on goal, but Bowdoin’s fore-checking pressure forced another costly turnover that led directly to a go-ahead-goal for Bowdoin just four minutes into the period.

Middlebury called a timeout to rally its skaters, but the team would fail to muster even a single shot on goal for the remainder of the period while surrendering a pair of goals. Two well-struck Polar Bear slapshots from the top of the zone would find open twine and vault Bowdoin ahead 5-2 going into the third period.

While the Panthers showed renewed energy in the third period, it was too little too late. Longo and Jake Charles ’16 delivered some strong body-checks and Barr worked hard on the offensive boards to open up chances for his teammates. Eventually, George Ordway ’15 would come steaming across the blue line and snap off a bullet that brought Middlebury within two.

As time wore down, Bowdoin battened down the hatches and the Panthers had trouble setting up sustained pressure in the offensive zone. With seven minutes left, a power-play opportunity arose for the Panthers, but Bowdoin snatched an unexpected two-on-one rush. As the Bowdoin players criss-crossed in front of BonDurant, the puck jarred loose, but one player with his back to the net found it again and whirled it past Bondurant to seal the game.

“It was a disappointing way to go out, for sure,” Freyre said. “Having played the way we did the past two weekends, this wasn’t what we were expecting...In the third period...we were thinking, ‘This will be our last period unless we do something here.’”

The Panthers finish the season with an 11-11-3 record, the first time since 1989 that they have failed to finish above .500. The team battled through doubts and adversity all season long, and then saw their schedule cut short as things appeared to be moving in a positive direction.

“This team had a lot of potential,” Donahoe said. “But in the end it was just potential most of the time. There were some times when we played great: versus Norwich, in the third period versus Hamilton and last weekend too.”

With an 8-4-1 record at home, the 2013-14 team gave the Kenyon crazies plenty to cheer about. While the leadership, camaraderie and on-ice services of the seniors will be missed next year, the core of returning players certainly possesses enough scrap and skill to let the goal horns roar in Kenyon next season.

“There is a lot of talent on this team still,” Donahoe said. “But, they have got to find a vehicle to realize that potential more consistently.”


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