Sports Briefs Hockey wins Holiday Classic

Author: Geoff Homer

Men's hockey wins Holiday Classic

While most students enjoyed the recent break away from campus, the men's hockey team hosted its annual Holiday Classic, which featured Trinity College, Hobart and St. Anselm.

On New Year's Eve, Middlebury defeated St. Anselm 3-2 in a game in which all three goals came from seniors. John Sales '07 opened the scoring with a shot to the top corner of the net. Less than two minutes later, Brett Shirreffs '07 pounded in a rebound off of an Evegeny Saidachev '07 shot on a 5-3 power play. After a scoreless second period, the Panthers struck again with another power play goal, this time with a Darwin Hunt '07 assist to the open Saidachev. The Hawks did not give up, as they managed to score two third period goals, but Doug Raeder '09 and the Panther defense was able to preserve the lead.

The new year brought the first Middlebury championship win of 2007, as the Panthers defeated Hobart in a shootout after battling to a 3-3 tie in regulation. The Statesmen opened the scoring with a tally in the first period. Regrouping at halftime, the Panthers tied the game just 11 seconds in with a goal from Mickey Gilchrist '08. Just under four minutes later, Hunt scored to put Middlebury up 2-1. Hobart rebounded with a power-play goal and later scored again to go up 3-2. With five minutes left in the period, however, Rob MacIntyre '08 scored the tying goal. After a scoreless third period, the game entered overtime, where it was sent to a shootout after another scoreless period. Middlebury won the shootout, and the game by a score of 3-1. Sales, who was named to the All-Tournament team along with Mason Graddock '09, converted his attempt in the shootout as did Eric LaFreniere '07 and Tom Maldonado '08.



Ski teams continue to compete despite lack of snow

Despite the lack of snow, both the alpine and Nordic ski teams have been in competition over break. The Nordic team traveled to Michigan to compete in the 2007 U.S. Cross Country Championships held at the Michigan Tech Nordic Training Center while the alpine team competed in events sanctioned by the FÈdÈration Internationale de Ski (FIS) throughout North America.

The men's and women's alpine teams enjoyed considerable success competing in FIS and Nor-Am races with multiple top three places and a victory. Before Christmas, the women traveled to Sunday River in Maine where Mattie Ford '09 placed second and fourth in two slaloms while tri-Captain Megan Hughes '08 had three top five finishes in four races. Tri-Captain Lindsay Brush '07 also placed third in a race at Mt. Tremblant in Canada against a field studded with Canadian and collegiate racers. She finished 11th or better in all four of her races, and was the top American in three. Recently the women traveled to Waterville Valley in N.H. where Tucker Vest-Burton '09 won the race with Ford coming in second.

On the men's side, the Reed brothers, Jack '10 and Clayton '08 have led the Panthers so far, with Clayton getting two top 10s in two slaloms at Sugarloaf. Jack placed 5th at Sugarloaf and placed 15th in the giant slalom at Nor-Am's at Sunday River in a field filled with many U.S. Ski team racers. His season is now in doubt after he broke his leg in a freak accident running down a flight of stairs in Stewart. Other strong performers include Jon Hunter '10 and Joey Swensson '08 who returned from spending the fall in snowy Colorado where he was able to get valuable training.

Both the men's and women's teams compete at Stowe and Waterville Valley for the final races before the Carnival season kicks off on Jan. 19 at the St. Michaels Carnival, but results were unavailable at the time The Campus went to press.

The Nordic team placed sixth out of 27 colleges competing in the Cross Country Championships, a remarkable effort considering all but one team finishing ahead of them had snow to train on. Better yet, the Panthers beat bitter rival UVM, who finished ninth. The men and women competed in both the freestyle and classic races, which were filled mainly with U.S. Ski Team racers and others who race for factory sponsored travel teams.

The top three racers on the men's side were Matt Johnson '08, with a 24th in the 10K Classic and a 36th in the 15K freestyle. Simeon Hamilton '09 placed 30th in the 10k and added a 34th in the 15k. Tim Reynolds '09 added a 33rd in the 10K but had a strong 16th in the 15k. Cassidy Edwards '09 led the women with an 18th in the classic and a 13th in the freestyle. Jenny Hamilton '07 had a 30th in the classic and a 22nd in the freestyle, while Robyn Anderson '09 placed 28th and 25th respectively.