AMHERST — Second-seeded host Amherst ousted the No. 7 Middlebury College men’s hockey team from the NESCAC playoffs of Saturday, 3-0, in a quarterfinal. Amherst improved to 19-4-2 for the season and will host No. 8 Tufts, which knocked off top-seeded Trinity, in this weekend’s final four. The Panthers concluded their season at 10-12-3.
In the opening period, Middlebury applied early pressure, and Amherst goalie Danny Vitale made three early saves on Evan Neugold. The Panthers outshot the Jeffs, 11-2, in the scoreless period.
Vitale finished with 11 saves in the opening session to keep the game deadlocked at 0-0 after 20 minutes of play.
At 15:56 of the second, Amherst took the lead when David White knocked the puck home following a scramble in front of the Middlebury net. The Jeffs outshot the Panthers, 16-9 in the second period.
With five minutes gone in the third, Andrew Fenwick gave Amherst a 2-0 advantage. Amherst added an empty-net goal.
Vitale made 28 saves for the shutout. Michael Peters made 22 stops for Middlebury.