HARTFORD, Conn. — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team dropped a pair of NESCAC games on the road this past weekend. The Panthers (4-14-2 overall, 2-10-2 NESCAC) faces a home-and-home series with Williams this weekend, including hosting the Ephs on Saturday at 7 p.m.
On this past Saturday, Trinity at 15-3-2, 12-1-1 NESCAC, the No. 5 team in NCAA Division III, blanked the Panthers, 3-0. Trinity goalie Alex Morin stopped 24 shots, including several in a late-game Panther flurry, one a glove save on Eric Jeremiah. 
Panther goalie Stephen Klein stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced before the Bantams added an empty-netter. Michael Grande made it 1-0 in the second period and Ryan Pfeffer added a goal in the third before Trinity’s clinching empty-net strike.
On Friday Wesleyan (11-5-4, 7-4-3) defeated the Panthers, 3-1, taking a 2-0 lead in a second period in which the Cardinals outshot the Panthers, 21-1.
The Cardinals’ Sean Ross made it 2-1 on a 4-on-3 power play at 10:12 of the second period. Wesleyan’s Matthew Zandi made it 2-0 four minutes later with the teams skating 4-on-4. 
Middlebury’s Brett Dineen made it 2-1 with eight minutes gone in the third. His first Panther goal was assisted by Kamil Tkaczuk, who won a battle for the puck along the end boards and centered to Dineen for a wrister. Four minutes later Cardinal Jordan Jancze made it 3-1.
Klein made 33 saves for the Panthers in 52:37, while Brian Ketchabaw stopped all four shots he faced in 3:31. Tim Sestak made 16 saves for the Cardinals.