LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team opened second-semester play by splitting two games at the New Year’s College Hockey Classic, which the 3-5-2 Panthers hosted at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid.
The Panthers opened by defeating St. Michael’s, 2-1, on Jan. 2, but dropped the finale, 4-1, to Hobart on Saturday. The Panthers are on the road this weekend at Trinity and Wesleyan.
In Lake Placid, Hobart defeated Southern Maine, 6-2, in first-round play, and Southern Maine defeated St. Michael’s in Saturday’s consolation, 5-2.
Vs. St. Michael’s (5-5-2), Greg Conrad put the Panthers on the board 14:32 into the first period after Paul Falvey stole the puck from one of the Purple Knights just outside of the blue line and dished to Conrad.
With 2:49 left in the second period, Ronald Fishman made it 2-0 with a power play goal set up by Jake Charles.
The Purple Knights pulled their goalie, Dave Donzanti, with 2:42 remaining. At 1:25, Kevin Altidor made it 2-1 by scoring on an A.J. Pieprzak rebound.
St. Michael’s outshot Middlebury 14-8 in the final period and finished with a 34-33 edge in shots. Panther goalie Stephen Klein played all 60 minutes made 33 saves, while Donzanti finished with 31 for the Purple Knights.
On Saturday, Hobart improved to 9-4 with the win over the Panthers, outshooting them, 35-28.
Tyler Wolf put Hobart up, 1-0, with 5:10 left in the opening period after a pass from Kevin Loppatto. At 1:40, Robert Sovik took advantage of a power play to make it 2-0; he tipped in a blast from the blue line by Bronson Kovacs.
With 31 seconds left in the first period, David Belluche scored from the blue line on a Middlebury power play to make it 2-1. Mike Najjar and Evan Neugold were credited with assists.
The Statesmen added two second-period goals. Brad McBride scored 14 seconds into the middle period to make it 3-1, and at 5:10, Tommaso Traversa added the final goal.
Lino Chimienti finished with 27 saves for Hobart, while Klein made 31 stops for the Panthers.