AMHERST, Mass. — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team dropped a pair of NESCAC road games this past weekend and finished first-semester play with a 1-7 record, 1-5 in the league.
The Panthers are idle until they host the Middlebury Holiday Classic on Dec. 30 and 31.
On Saturday host Amherst (4-1-3, 2-0-3) defeated the Panthers, 4-1, as Mammoth Patrick Daly recorded a hat trick. 
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead after the first period by scoring on a power play. Owen Powers redirected Brendan Dawson’s shot from the point into the bottom-left corner.
Amherst responded 51 seconds into the second period on a Thomas Lindstrom goal, and the Mammoths grabbed the lead soon afterward on Daly’s first goal.
Daly’s second goal, 17 seconds into the third period, made it 3-1. Powers had an opportunity at 14:14 on a three-on-one rush, but Amherst goalie Connor Girard gloved his blast. Daly added an empty-netter for the final score.
Panther goalie Stephen Klein finished with 23 saves, while Girard posted 18 stops for the Mammoths.
Middlebury also scored first at Hamilton on Friday, but the Continentals (5-2-1, 2-2-1 NESCAC) also earned a 4-1 victory over the Panthers.
Powers gave Middlebury the lead 7:26 into the game, when he tipped Dawson’s shot from along the right boards past Continental goalie Evan Buitenhuis. Hamilton evened the count later in the period on a Rory Gagnon breakaway. Buitenhuis preserved that score until the first break, robbing Powers as on a shorthanded two-on-one with just over a minute on the clock.
In the middle period Hamilton scored twice. Nick Ursitti chipped in a pass from Brandon Willett, and Gagnon tapped in his a short feed from Neil Conway
The Panthers had a good chance to get within a goal early in the third, but Buitenhuis got his left pad on Charlie Parsons’ backhander from the slot. Hamilton added a late empty-netter.
Klein finished with 35 saves, while Buitenhuis turned away 22 for Hamilton.