MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team split two NESCAC road games this past weekend, with Saturday’s victory at Wesleyan marking both the end of a nine-game winless streak (0-3-6) and the return of senior goalie Brian Ketchabaw from a Jan. 3 injury. 
Ketchabaw improved his record to 5-1 by making 29 saves in the Panthers’ 4-1 win over the Cardinals, and has a .940 save percentage.
The Panthers (8-9-3, 6-5-3 NESCAC) remain in the hunt for a top-four seed for the NESCAC postseason, but have a tough schedule.  This weekend they play second-place Williams (13-6-1, 10-4 NESCAC) both on Friday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m., away on Friday and home on Saturday. The following weekend they wrap up the regular season by hosting Amherst and Hamilton, now in fifth- and third-places, respectively.
At Wesleyan (10-9-1, 6-7-1) this past Saturday, the Panthers took the lead midway through the second period, when Alex Heinritz deflected a shot home. Middlebury caught a break when Tyler Wyatt hit the post on a breakaway, and with seconds remaining in the period Ketchabaw denied Jordan Rose alone out front.
Less than two minutes into the period, Brett Dineen put a Bret Pastor rebound past Cardinal goaltender Tim Sestak, who finished with 23 saves. Just over seven minutes later, Cardinal Tyler Kobryn corralled a rebound to make it 2-1. At 11:37 Panther Matt Danner also cashed in on a rebound, and at 4:04 the Panthers scored in transition, with Emack Bentley feeding Tyler Capello steaming along the slot.
On Friday the Panthers outshot first-place Trinity (14-5-1, 9-4-1) by 34-29, but the Bantams claimed a 6-2 victory. Two Bantam goalies combined for 32 saves, while Panther freshman Jake Horoho made 23 saves.
Middlebury got goals from Billy Dobenski, from Conor Breen, in the first and Pastor, from Owen Powers in the second period. Pastor’s goal set the score at 3-2, but Trinity scored before the end of that period and added a pair in the third to pull away.