MEDFORD, Mass. — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team got late goals in two recent NESCAC road games to earn a win and a tie to remain unbeaten in league play at 2-0-2. The Panthers, 2-2-2 overall, conclude first semester play with games at Hamilton and Amherst this weekend.
On Saturday, the Panthers scored three goals in the third period to erase a 2-0 deficit and defeat host Tufts, 3-2. The Jumbos fell to 1-4-2, 0-3-1 in league play. Cameron Romoff scored the game-winning goal for the Panthers with 1:07 remaining.
Tufts took the lead with a second-period power-play goal from Nick Balboa at 10:48. Just 1:43 later, the Jumbos doubled their lead to 2-0, with Stewart Bell crashing the net and netting his own rebound.
Middlebury began its comeback in the final period at 2:40. Max Greenwald collected a loose puck at the blue line, took a few strides and beat Tufts goalie Nik Nugnes (49 saves) to his stick side.
Four minutes later, Paul Falvey stuck a shot from the circle under the crossbar to make it 2-2.
After Romoff tallied the game-winning score, the Panthers controlled possession and Tufts was unable to pull the goalie until 15 seconds remained.
The Jumbos applied last-second pressure, but Stephen Klein (33 saves) recorded stops in the final seconds.
On Friday, the Middlebury men tied Connecticut College (1-3-2, 0-1-2), 2-2, with an empty-net strike with 49 seconds remaining.
Mark Lyman opened the scoring for the Panthers 17:40 into the first period, corralled a Mike Najjar rebound.
The Camels took a 2-1 lead in the second period with a pair of goals from Joe Birmingham, both assisted by Joe Giordano.
The lead held until the final minute, when Middlebury goaltender Liam Moorfield-Yee headed to the bench in favor of an extra attacker. Vincent Gisonti then scored his team-leading fourth goal to tie the game. Greenwald fired the puck from the point to the left circle, where Gisonti redirected it inside the near post.
Connecticut outshot the Panthers, 39-38. Moorfield-Yee made 37 saves between the pipes, while Tom Conlin made 36 for the home team.