Men’s hockey settles for split
MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team split two home games this past weekend, with the loss coming in the final of the Panthers’ own Middlebury Holiday Classic.
The Panthers (4-3-3) return to action on Saturday, when they host Wesleyan at 7 p.m., and Sunday, when Trinity visits for a 4 p.m. contest.
In this past Sunday’s tournament final, visiting Neumann University of Aston, Penn., edged the Panthers, 2-1. Knights goalie Tyler LeFebvre finished the championship game with 47 saves on 48 Panther shots. He was named the tournament’s most valuable player after he stopped 80 of the 82 shots he faced in the tournament.
Neumann opened the scoring 3:12 into the second period, when Jon Low redirected a pass at the far post from Brandon Gagne.
The Knights’ John Lazzaro doubled that lead just over four minutes later. Lazzaro, again at the far post, one-timed home a pass from Anthony Pino.
The Panthers scored three seconds after their first power play of the game expired, at 15:18 of the period. Travis Stephens collected the puck at his own goal line and went on an end-to-end rush, putting a wrist shot under the crossbar.
Middlebury had its chances in the third, which included a power play 12:19 into the period. On that advantage, Spencer Cage and Mark McLellan each had quality scoring opportunities, but LeFebvre denied both.
The Panthers came within inches of getting the equalizer with goalie Stephen Klein pulled for an extra attacker. Kamil Tkaczuk twice tried unsuccessfully to poke home a loose puck in the final five seconds.
Klein made 27 saves for Middlebury as the Panthers held a 48-29 advantage in shots.
On Saturday, the Panthers doubled up SUNY-Canton, 6-3, while Neumann was taking care of New England College, 4-1.
The Panthers jumped on the scoreboard 19 seconds into the game when Vincent Gisonti tapped home the rebound of a Ronald Fishman shot. The Panthers doubled their lead at 19:03, when Cage knocked home a loose puck that slipped through Canton goalie Josh Erickson’s legs on an initial shot by Braeden Quast. At 0:11 of the opening period, the Kangaroos’ Kyle Matsumoto netted a George Curry rebound to make it 2-1.
At 6:47 of the second period, Evan Neugold put the Panthers up by 3-1 with a shot from between the circles after taking a pass from the behind the net from McLellan. Just 18 seconds later, the Middlebury edge grew to 4-1 when Jake Charles redirected a shot by Terrance Goguen from just inside the blue line. At 17:27, Matsumoto scored again on another rebound and it was 4-2 through two periods.
In the final period both teams scored in the opening 79 seconds. Middlebury scored in just under a minute when Brendan McGovern gathered a turnover near the red line, weaved his way through defenders and lifted a shot top shelf. Kasey Kulczycki scored 20 seconds laterby redirecting a Ben Beasley shot from the left point. Middlebury’s Zach Haggerty tacked on the final goal for the Panthers at 11:04 when he stuffed in a loose puck from just outside the crease.
The Panthers held a 40-18 advantage in shots for the contest. Panther goalie Liam Moorfield-Yee made 15 saves, while Erickson was credited with 34 stops for the Kangaroos. Panthers Charles and Max Greenwald were named to the all-tournament team.