NEW LONDON — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team won a pair of one-goal NESCAC road games this past weekend to improve to 3-0-1 heading into this weekend’s Great Northern Shootout in Plattsburgh, N.Y.
There, the Panthers will take on Norwich at 4 p.m. on Friday, while host Plattsburgh meets Wisconsin-Superior at 7 p.m. The winners will meet at 7 p.m. on Saturday after the 4 p.m. consolation game.
On this past Saturday, Jake Charles scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime, to lift Middlebury to a 5-4 overtime win at Connecticut (0-4 overall, 0-4 in NESCAC).
Charles scored the game-winner with 1:04 remaining in the extra session after taking a pass from Robbie Donahoe in the slot area for the visitors. Charles has accounted for four goals and five assists to lead the Panthers.
Louis Belisle, Max Greenwald and George Ordway supplied goals for Middlebury, while Derek Pimentel dished out a pair of assists. Michael Peters finished with 11 saves in goal, while Connecticut’s Tom Conlin finished with 33 saves in goal.
Middlebury carried a 3-2 advantage after one and was clinging to a 4-3 edge as they headed into the second intermission. With 50.6 seconds left in regulation, the Camels forced overtime.
With 2:03 remaining, the Camels were assessed a two-minute minor penalty. Donahoe made a nice feed from the blue line and Charles was able to find open net from the slot for the game-winner.
Middlebury held a 38-15 advantage in shots and went three for six on the power play.
On Friday, Middlebury scored three first-period goals and hung on for a 4-3 victory at Tufts. Donahoe and Pimentel both finished with a goal and an assist to lead the Panthers. Tufts dropped to 0-3.
Middlebury was first on the scoreboard when sophomore Evan Neugold snapped one off the post and in just under five minutes into the game. The Panthers increased the margin to 2-0 on an extra-man goal by Donahoe at 9:28. Freshman Mike Najjar later made it 3-0 with his first collegiate goal at 15:50.
Tufts got a power-play goal with just 12 seconds remaining in the first period to make it 3-1 heading into the first intermission. The Panthers had a 21-13 edge in shots for the period.
In the second period, Middlebury took advantage of a five-on-three opportunity when Pimentel stuck a shot past Jumbo goalie Ryan Kellenberger at 7:54.
Tufts made it 3-2 at 3:25 of the third, and then scored with the goalie out with 44 seconds remaining to pull within 4-3. Middlebury goaltender Peters finished with 23 saves as the Panthers out-shot Tufts, 43-26. Kellenberger made 39 saves for Tufts goal. The Jumbos took 10 penalties, with Middlebury striking on two of nine power plays.