AMHERST — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team lost once and tied once on the road as the Panthers’ regular season concluded this past weekend.
The Panthers (8-12-3, 5-9-3 NESCAC) earned the seventh seed for the NESCAC tournament and will visit No. 2 Wesleyan (15-7-2, 13-3-2) for a Saturday quarterfinal. The Cardinals posted a 5-1 home victory and a 2-0 road win over the Panthers this season, but Middlebury outshot Wesleyan in the second game.
On this past Saturday third-place Amherst (13-6-4, 10-4-4) defeated the Panthers, 4-1. The Panthers outshot the Mammoths, 38-36, but failed to score on four power plays. Middlebury fell behind by 3-0 before Charlie Parsons scored at 9:29 of the third. Amherst added an empty-netter. Panther goalie Adam Wisco stopped 32 of the 35 shots he faced, while Amherst goalie Giancarlo Ventre made 37 saves.
On Friday the Panthers rallied to tie fourth-place Hamilton (12-9-3, 10-5-3), when Jimmy McKee scored with 56 seconds left with Middlebury goalie Brian Ketchabaw extra attacker to knot the score 3-3.
Middlebury went up 1-0 3:49 into the game, when Emack Bentley one-timed home Mitchell Allen’s centering pass from. Hamilton took a 2-1 lead on two power-play goals, one midway through the first and one early in the second. Panther Cole Joslin tied the game with 1:19 to go in the second period by knocking home a rebound of Alex Heinritz’s shot from the point.
Hamilton regained the lead with 3:25 to go in the third on a rebound goal before McKee’s late strike. Middlebury could not net the game-winner in overtime despite a 6-0 advantage in shots on goal. Ketchabaw made 29 saves for the Panthers, while Anthony Tirabassi denied 32 shots for the Continentals.