Hockey came back like a boomerang

Author: Jeff Patterson

Connecticut College was a cakewalk in Nov. 2005. The Panther hockey team smoked the Camels 7-1 without even scoring in the third period. That same season, Skidmore and Castleton State were second and third helpings of cake, which the Blue Shirts consumed by scores of 8-2 and 6-1.

This season, however, Middlebury barely escaped Kenyon Arena with a 2-1 win over Conn. in November. Then this past weekend, after tying the score at one, the Panthers hit the skids against Skidmore, falling 4-2. The next day they eked out a 4-3 win over Castleton State, needing the third period to win.

Late in the second period against Castleton, Eric LaFreniere '07 took a lead pass from Yev Saidachev '07 and streaked towards the net. There, with just over a minute left in the second period, he began to wrap around goalie Jeff Swanson's net before dropping the puck to the trailing Justin Gaines '08. Gaines found an open goal to tie the score at 3-3.

"That's the Middlebury system right there," said Ian Drummond '09, who made his second career start. "Really stretch the ice. Hit the long guy. Get their defensemen thinking about the guy behind them and once you get them thinking, they only look at the puck, and then you hit the open man."

This goal set the stage for Mickey Gilchrist '08. With 7:23 remaining in the game, the captain gathered the puck, made a move and backhanded the puck into the far corner of the goal. Panther goalie Ross Cherry '08 picked up his game in the final frame and picked up his 26th career win.

In both games the opposition scored three unanswered goals. Needless to say, that does not happen very often against Middlebury. "It shouldn't happen," said defenseman Rob MacIntyre '08. "That's not the way we play."

Times have changed, though, and the unseasonably warm January weather only confirms this fact. "Every team in our league this year has gotten a lot better," said Jamie McKenna '09, who had an assist against Skidmore and a goal against Castleton. "There are no walkovers. Last year there were. The level of play has increased and we have to adjust to that and play better than we have."

The main way the other teams have improved is by bringing in talented first-years. Skidmore had ten, while Castleton State had nine. In essence each team is entirely different than the one Middlebury played last season. None of the first-years stood-out like Skidmore goalie, D.J. Delbuono, who stood on his head, stopping 46 of the 48 shots that came his way Friday night. "He played pretty well," said MacIntyre. "He had a lot of good saves for them. He came up big."

Still, Delbuono was not the only opposing first-year to have a big impact this weekend. The last three goals Skidmore scored, including the game-winner, came off the sticks of Matt Czerkowicz (two goals) and Anthony Ferri, two first-years. Czerkowicz, with seven biscuits in the basket and 11 assists so far, is the Thoroughbreds' leading scorer and Ferri, who also has seven goals, is third on the team. All three Castleton goals on Saturday came from new players Steve Culbertson, Eric Curtis and Kirk Bolduc. Culbertson and Bolduc lead the team in scoring.

"Both teams brought a lot of good guys this year. They've definitely improved," said MacIntyre. Drummond agrees, "We're realizing that every team is going to be a good team. That's what this league is. We can't take them lightly."

A lack of scoring opportunities has not been a problem for the Panthers. They out-shot Skidmore 48-29 and Castleton 47-19. But as Casey Ftorek '08 explains it, "We weren't shooting to score. We were just shooting for the sake of taking a shot. It's just a matter of taking some pride in what we do."

"The numbers are clear enough," said Drummond. "We are getting a lot of shots. Quantity is not necessarily what you want. We want quality. Sometimes we hit the goalie right square in the chest. That makes it easy for him. If we get a shot, yeah, it looks good in the stats, but we need to start aiming our shots."

If the Panthers are going to have a shot at their aim, a fourth consecutive national championship, they will need to - as they are starting to figure out - bend over backward. "We've been working hard," said Ftorek, "but we need to get our heads in the game a little bit more and be accountable for our own play."

If they get it all together and bend over backward, the big Ms on their jerseys will automatically transform into Ws, and they will wallop wannabe winners with whatever weapons work.