MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Panthers explode to NESCAC glory

Author: Tom McCann

The women's hockey NESCAC Championship trophy is back where it belongs - Middlebury College. The women entered the weekend knowing that in order to claim the championship they would have to first topple Williams College, a team that held Middlebury to a 1-1 tie on January 18, and then in all likelihood, would have to beat top-seeded, Bowdoin College on their own ice, which handed Middlebury a 5-2 defeat at Kenyon Arena just three weeks earlier. However, from the minute the Panthers stepped on the ice to face Williams on Friday night, the regular season was cast aside and the Panthers proved that on their day, they can play anyone off the ice.

The Panthers got their weekend underway with a semi-final match-up against third-seeded Williams. Earlier in the season, Middlebury had beaten the Ephs 3-1 at home, before splitting a 1-1 tie down in Williamstown, Mass. With this in mind, Middlebury knew they could not afford to underestimate the challenge ahead.

In an extremely tight opening period, the Panthers could muster just three shots on the Williams goaltender, Denise McCullouch, compared to 11 offered by the Ephs. The difference was that Middlebury's Kate Kogut '06, goaltender extraordinaire, successfully rebuffed each Williams threat, yet McCullouch could not do the same. The deadlock was broken with 1:21 remaining in the first period when junior Gloria Velez skated in from the right wing and fired Middlebury into the lead.

A powerplay early in the second period gave Middlebury a chance to extend their lead, which is exactly what happened as Emily Quizon '06 found senior Lorna Gifis for her 25th goal of the campaign just over six minutes after the restart. Within five minutes, the Ephs found themselves even further adrift of the defending National Champions as Abby Kurtz-Phelan '07 chose a good time to score the third goal of her season, assisted by Quizon again, and Maggie MacDonald '08. Williams had to respond quickly if they were going to stay in the game, and sure enough, they managed to find a way through less than two minutes after Kurtz-Phelan had seemingly put the game out of reach. Kogut's goal was breached for the first time in the game and she would not allow it to happen again. Try as they might, Williams could not find a way through the Panther rearguard again, and when McCullouch was pulled in a desperate bid to get a goal back, Velez chalked up her second of the game, Middlebury's 4th, and the semi-final was in the books.

Senior Jackie Cohen noted, "We played how we should have played. We didn't play down to them, but played at our level and it showed in the end that we were the better team."

Kogut made 22 saves against Williams, but more was to follow the next day when Middlebury faced off against arch-rivals Bowdoin. The hosts had already to endure an overtime nailbiter against fourth-seeded Hamilton the day before. A year previous, the Panthers crossed paths with the Polar Bears for the NESCAC Championship and came away on the receiving end of a 4-1 defeat. It would prove to be their last loss en-route to a National Championship, celebrated at Kenyon Arena later in the season. This time, the NESCAC Championship game had an entirely different complexion.

In a similar vein to the semi-final the day before, Middlebury was engaged in a closely fought first period that was short on goals. Indeed, the score would remain deadlocked until the 16:48 mark in the first period when, on a 5-on-3 powerplay, Kurtz-Phelan reacted first to a rebound following a shot from Shannon Tarrant '07 that netminder Cat MacEachern could not deflect far enough out of harm's way. After scoring just three times in the regular season, the sophomore backhanded a shot into the top corner for her second goal in two days, giving Middlebury the all-important opening goal.

Coming out for the second period, Middlebury knew that scoring the second goal would be crucial, so when Tarrant ripped a slapshot under the glove of MacEachern, the two-goal advantage gave the Panthers some breathing room. However, it didn't last long, as Bowdoin converted on a powerplay at 12:31 in the second period, pulling a goal back and energizing the home crowd. However, Middlebury dealt the hosts a massive momentum breaker when, just three minutes later, Shannon Sylvester '07 followed up on another rebound, this time from a shot by Velez. As the second period came to a close with the Panthers holding a 3-1 advantage, Middlebury sensed it had one hand on the trophy already.

Having repelled 24 of 25 shots through two periods, Kogut was not to be beaten again as she added another 10 saves in the final period, taking her total to a staggering 56 over the weekend. There was to be no let off on the offensive side of the game either as Kurtz-Phelan buried what faint hope the Polar Bears still clung to 1:26 into the final period. She took a pass from Sylvester and fired low past the goaltender for her second goal of the game, and third of the weekend, a phenomenal return for a player who had scored just three goals in the regular season. Tory MacNeil '08 completed the rout five minutes later with a powerplay goal, extending Middlebury's lead to 5-1, where it would remain for the final 14 minutes of play giving Middlebury a third NESCAC Championship and an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Cohen said, "Before the game, we were saying that Bowdoin would be more tired after having to play a whole extra period against Hamilton, but they still played hard against us." She went on to note the difference was that, "We played well as a team, instead of having 25 individuals out there. Our goal was to be first to every puck and to win every battle."

In truth, Bowdoin had no answer for the offensive firepower that the Panthers brought to the ice, nor could they solve Kogut for more than just the one goal. The junior collected NESCAC Player of the Week for her efforts, and will once again guard the net in the NCAA Quarter-final this coming weekend. On the weekend, she commented, "It was awesome - we played really well as a whole. Things just seemed to click."

The Panthers will play host to Manhattanville, a team Middlebury last faced on Feb. 1 2003, losing 1-0. The game will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 11 with the winners rewarded with a trip to the NCAA Frozen Four against either Gustavus Adolphus or Wisconsin-Stevens Point the following Friday. Middlebury already beat both teams in Wisconsin earlier this season. However, as the events of the NESCAC Championship weekend go to show, regular season records count for little when the puck is dropped in play-off action, and the Middlebury women know that better than anyone.

On the upcoming challenge, Kogut commented, "I think we've come a long way as a team since the beginning of the year. We're just going to play our own game - do what we usually do." Cohen also observed, "There are no weak teams in the NCAA's. We're all pretty strong teams no one team really stands out from the rest."