PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team picked up a tie and a loss on Friday and Saturday at Plattsburgh State University in the PrimeLink Great Northern Shootout. The 3-1-2 Panthers, ranked No. 15 in NCAA Division III last week, play on the road this coming weekend.
This past Saturday, the Panthers suffered their first loss of the season, falling in the Shootout championship to Plattsburgh, 3-1. The third-ranked Cardinals remained unbeaten at 8-0-1.
Plattsburgh jumped on Middlebury with a pair of goals 2:08 apart early in the first period. Connor Gorman and Dakota Mason gave PSU the advantage 5:37 into the contest. Michael Radisa made it 3-0 late in the first period, prompting a Middlebury goaltender change as Nick BonDurant came on in relief of Mike Peters.
Following a scoreless second period, Panther Louis Belisle netted his third of the year at 11:12 of the third to close the scoring. Plattsburgh held a 26-21 shots advantage in the game. Peters made five saves in the game, while BonDurant finished with 18. Mathieu Cadieux made 20 saves for the Cardinals.
On Friday, Middlebury earned a 1-1 tie against Norwich in the first round, and then advanced, 2-0, in a shootout. Middlebury’s Belisle and Jake Charles both beat Norwich starting goaltender Matic Marinsek, while Peters stuffed both Chris Duszynski and Paul Russell.
Norwich (5-1-2, 4-0-1 ECAC East after falling to Wisconsin-Superior in Saturday’s consolation) outshot Middlebury by 26-23.
Middlebury struck first blood at 8:32 of the second period, when Michael Longo stuffed home a rebound off assists from Robbie Donahoe and Evan Neugold.
Norwich knotted the game at 1-1 on the power play with 3:47 left in the second period, when William Pelletier redirected a pass from the point from Corey Hale.
Marinsek made 22 saves for Norwich, while Peters made 25 saves for Middlebury.