Men's Hockey Ices Foes, Turns Season Around

Author: Andreas Apostalatos

The Middlebury men's hockey team seems to have regained their dominance in Division III hockey after a disappointing start to the season saw the team hit a mediocre .500 winning percentage after its first four games.
After coming in last place at the Primelink Great Northern Shootout on Nov. 29-30, the Panthers have won five of their last six games, and are fourth in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC).
While this position may seem uncharacteristically low for the usually dominant Panthers, Middlebury is only four points shy of first-place Bowdoin, who it will play this Saturday on the road.
Much of the Panthers' recent success can be attributed to the strong play of freshman members of the team. In addition to the usual fine goaltending of first-year Yen-I Chen, first-years Tim Schneider, Ryan Cahill and Jeff Smith have all become consistent contributors offensively, with nine, seven and seven points respectively. Kevin Cooper '04 leads the Panthers with nine goals and seven assists (16 points) overall.
"I think Coach Sinclair and the upperclassmen have put a lot of confidence in the freshman class, and have realized that we need to contribute in order to be successful," said Chen, who has started in goal in 10 of the Panthers' 11 games. "I think we're a pretty young team, and we can only get better. We have great leadership, the captains are doing a great job, and they've really made it comfortable for us as freshmen."
Middlebury put on an offensive showcase on Jan. 10 and Jan. 11 when it hosted NESCAC competitors Tufts and Connecticut College.
The Panthers managed to out-hustle Tufts as they scored three goals in the third period, and took the game 6-2.
Middlebury worked the puck very effectively over the course of the game, leaving Tufts worn out by the final period. A consummate team effort saw six different Panthers score.
The following day, Connecticut College visited Middlebury for a 4 p.m. matinee. A mishap with the visiting team's bus delayed the game an hour, but Middlebury was not caught off guard. The Panthers routed the Camels 9-1.
Once again, the Panthers managed to blow open the game in the game's final interval, scoring four goals. Five Middlebury players notched two points in the game, led by John Dawson '04 (2 goals, 1 assist), who previously had only one goal on the season.
Despite the team's easy victories on Jan. 10 and 11, the Panthers can ill afford to loosen their intensity.
Both Tufts and Connecticut College rest in the basement of the NESCAC with identical 2-3-1 records, and the rest of January will bring tougher opponents. Middlebury will play seven more games this month, three of them which are against NESCAC teams.
This weekend's trip to Maine for games against Colby on Friday and Bowdoin on Saturday will be a pivotal stretch in Middlebury's season. Currently, undefeated Bowdoin rests atop the NESCAC with a 7-0-0 record, while Colby is only two points behind at 6-1-0.
A duo of wins will numerically put the Panthers in the upper echelon of NESCAC teams, a place where the team believes it belongs.
However, a loss in either game will make it slightly more difficult for the Panthers to win the NESCAC title, since the seeds to the league tournament will be based solely on teams' regular season league records.
"The games this [past] weekend were good wins for us," commented team captain Rob Chisholm '03.
Chisholm continued, "Against Connecticut College, we felt like we started to click a little bit better and we got everyone working together.
Saturday was a great confidence booster for this team, which will be important as we head to Maine next weekend to take on Colby and Bowdoin.
Both those teams have been having very good years, and they are probably our biggest league rivals, so we always look forward to playing them."
Despite the fact that the Panthers will have to play both games within a 24-hour period, Chisholm and his teammates feel they will be more than energized for the competition.
"There is a little more jump in everyone's step in practice this week as we anticipate what should be a great weekend of hockey."
After returning from Maine, the Panthers will remain at Middlebury for a three-game homestand, highlighted by a Jan. 21 matchup against Williams.
The Ephs currently sit at fifth place in the NESCAC standings, just one spot behind the Panthers.