Cadets the Spoiler at Panthers' Party

Author: Peter Yordan

It was Shakespeare who said heavy rests the head that wears the crown, but for the men's hockey team there will be no coronation this year. Middlebury, the nation's number one ranked team and the host of the NCAA Championship, suffered a stunning and painful 5-2 loss to Norwich University in the semifinals last Friday. The defeat was a bitter final chapter to the Panthers' storybook season, an awkward ending to what had been one of the most dominant performances of any team in Middlebury hockey history.

Heading into the semifinal match-up many questioned the NCAA's decision to pair Middlebury and Norwich, the top two teams in the tournament. In the quarterfinals the week before, Middlebury had coolly ended Wentworth's Cinderella season with a pair of commanding wins by scores of 6-0 and 9-1. At the same time Norwich was busy driving the final nails into Bowdoin's coffin with victories of 3-0 and 7-0. The stage was set for a thrilling hockey game between the intrastate rivals. Norwich was the only team that had defeated Middlebury all season, but Middlebury had beaten them cleanly in their previous match-up in February. "I'd be surprised if it ended up being more than a one goal game," said Middlebury Coach Bill Beaney. Tickets were in short supply for a game that many expected to be the de facto championship, and a large Norwich cheering contingent was expected to butt heads with the Middlebury faithful in a jam-packed and raucous Kenyon Arena.

The Panthers, however, were given a rude shock and an inauspicious omen of things to come when Norwich won the puck off the opening face-off and broke in on the Middlebury net as a Cadet forward swept in from the side and banked a goal in off of Christian Carlsson '02's pads. Thirty-one seconds into the game Norwich had staked a 1-0 lead. "We were too hesitant to make mistakes at the start," said Beaney. "That first goal put us back on our heels."

Middlebury floundered, unable to adjust their game to the relentless Norwich pressure. The Panthers yielded Norwich a power play at the six-minute mark, and paid for their undisciplined strategy when a redirected Cadet slap shot found its way past Carlsson's shoulder for the second goal of the game.

Norwich nearly took a 3-0 lead on a goal that was disallowed on a high stick call with five minutes remaining, and Middlebury looked dead in the water playing in front of a stunned and silenced crowd. "For some reason we just didn't come out with any intensity," said Adam Foote '04. "They outworked us for loose pucks." Going into the locker room for the first intermission it was the first time all season that the Panthers could make the dubious claim of having been outplayed on their own ice.

In the second period the Panthers started playing with some renewed vigor before their game was derailed by penalties. Foote was whistled for a retaliatory hit eight minutes into the second and Norwich converted their man advantage to put them ahead by three. One minute later a crosscheck by senior Matt Dunn was deemed worthy of a five minute major by the referees. Middlebury fought valiantly on the penalty kill to keep the game within reach, holding the Norwich machine at bay for four minutes before sacrificing the power play goal at 13 minutes. "They seemed to know where we were going before we even went there," said a shell-shocked Beaney.

Middlebury refused to go quietly into the night, however, and returned to the third period with a reckless abandon. Robert Chisholm '03 breathed life into the Panthers' offense just 13 seconds into the period with a wrist shot which found its way through the five hole of the Norwich goalie. "We wanted to go out playing as hard as we could," said co-captain Ryan Constantine '02. Ten minutes later Andrew Helming '04 scored to cut the Norwich lead in half, bringing the entire crowd to their feet. Middlebury's desperation nearly paid off again when Kevin Cooper '04 took a shot that rang off the post. The team kept up the pressure, but time was not on the Panthers' side. With 2:49 left on the clock Beaney pulled Carlsson for the extra attacker. The dual threat of Norwich and the clock proved too much for the Panthers, however, and Middlebury finally gave up the ghost when Norwich put a shot past a diving Constantine for the empty net tally and a 5-2 win.

"We were a little overconfident. We didn't win pucks, we didn't skate," said Constantine. "The most difficult thing is that we had a chance to host the championship and win at home in front of our fans." In the end, the team that all year long had been resourceful enough to find some way to win the big game finally ran out of steam. In retrospect, playing against a weak opponent like Wentworth in the quarterfinal round may have been a curse in disguise. The Panthers seemed unable to marshal the intensity needed to match up with Norwich. "Our best just didn't play as well as their best," said Beaney.

Overall it was a tough day to be a Swedish goaltender. Both Carlsson and his Plattsburgh State counterpart Nicklaus Sundberg were victimized by their opponents as Wisconsin-Superior defeated Plattsburgh 5-0 in the other semifinal. The next day Wisconsin-Superior won the NCAA Championship over Norwich by scoring with a minute left to force overtime, where it eventually scored the game winner.

The Panthers will have to content themselves with a season that saw the team tie the program record for wins with 26. Their overall record was a somewhat decent 26-2-1. The team won their third consecutive NESCAC championship, and Kevin Cooper '04 tied the school record for most goals in a season with 28. The team will graduate seven seniors: co-captains Grayson Fertig and Ryan Constantine, assistant captain Matt Snyder, defensemen Matt Dunn and Andy Campbell, forward Jack Kennedy and goaltender Christian Carlsson. "The seniors are the heart and soul of our team," said Foote candidly. "It's going to be tough next year without them."