Men's Hockey Stumble in Conference Play

It is gut check time for the Middlebury men’s hockey team (8-10-2) who will face four must-win games in the coming two weekends to salvage a season that never quite lifted off the ground. In the past three weekends, Middlebury lost to Bowdoin, then beat Colby and Tufts before losing three straight to Connecticut College, Trinity and Wesleyan. Despite the chilling results, the faithful can point to Middlebury’s continued success in the shots category and recent stellar play from important leaders John Barr ’14 and Ben Wiggins ’14. Wiggins earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors for his three goal, two assist weekend against Bowdoin and Colby.

The NCAA championship banners hanging proudly in the Kenyon arena rafters put significant pressure on every edition of the Middlebury hockey team. This year, after losing seven of the past ten games, the team adopts an unfamiliar underdog mentality that may just become the missing puzzle piece to the team’s inconsistent play.

Thomas Freyre ’14 called the last two weeks “embarassing” and candidly expressed the need for a “dramatic change across the board from seniors to freshmen” in order to  compete in the postseason.

“We need to play like underdogs,” Freyre said. “No team we play now is going to respect us, so we need to earn it.”

The Panthers were seconds away from a signature win on the road against Bowdoin Jan. 25, but the Polar Bears prevailed in overtime. Goals from Wiggins, Ronald Fishman ’16 and George Ordway ’15 erased a Bowdoin lead. With two minutes left, Louis Belisle ’14 gave Middlebury its first lead with a top shelf wrister on a five-on-three power play. Two inexcusable penalties from the Panthers let Bowdoin pull the goalie and bully in a rebound goal on their six-on-three player advantage. The home team slid in an overtime goal to send Middlebury packing.

At several points this season, team defense has tightened and the power play has excelled to lift the Panthers easily above quality opponents. Yet uncertainty at the goaltender position and lapses in the unique system still stifle the squad like a wet blanket.

Middlebury took out its anger on Colby on Saturday, Jan. 25 and Tufts on Friday, Jan. 31. Freyre assisted a tip-in goal from Matt Silcoff ’16, then stationed in front for a tip-in goal of his own to move a critical distance in front of the Mules. Derek Pimentel ’15, who assisted the Freyre goal, scored one of his own, and two Wiggins goals completed the scoring.

The offense kept churning against Tufts. Skating on the open ice of a four-on-four situation in the second period, Barr rattled home a shot off the post and a minute later Belisle finished one of his own. Pimentel scored two goals in the third period, his ninth and tenth on the season.

In most respects, Middlebury deserved another victory against Conn. College The Panthers outshot the Camels 34 to 15. Mike Petchonka of Conn. College put on a show to limit Middlebury to just one goal, and Liam Moorfield-Yee ’16 surrendered two on 15 shots to concede the game.

Against Trinity and Wesleyan, Middlebury dropped into two-goal deficits in the first period that proved insurmountable.

“Bad starts have been killing us all season,” Freyre said, “We respond to the other team when we really should be dictating the game ourselves.”

Middlebury traveled to Hartford, CT to meet the eleventh-ranked Trinity Bantams on Feb. 8. The Panthers trailed 2-0 in the second period when Evan Neugold ’16 brought Middlebury within one. Twenty-seven seconds later, Trinity again stretched their lead to two goals, and by the end of the second period the Bantams led 4-1.

Barr netted one for Middlebury early in the fourth, and with 13:28 remaining in the game Fishman made it a one-goal contest. The Bantams then sealed the deal with a fifth goal a minute later en route to the 5-3 victory.

Middlebury surrendered two goals twenty-one seconds apart in the first period at Wesleyan on Feb. 9. Thirty shots from the Panthers yielded only one late goal from Jake Charles ’16 on an assist from Freyre.

Despite the recent skid, it is unfair to judge this team on wins and losses alone. If the team can use its adversity to motivate a positive run, Middlebury may just get hot at the right time and sneak another banner for the Kenyon rafter collection. Two back-to-back games against third-ranked Williams (9-3-2 NESCAC) make the road a difficult one for Middlebury, but Middlebury is confident it can defeat the Ephs and gain all the more momentum because of it.