NESCAC 2025-2026: Don't Call it a Comeback

[tjoneslo]

It's been noted that Hamilton's star player Luke Tchor was injured earlier in the season. Does anyone know if he'll be back for any of the NESCAC or NCAA tournament? I'm not sure what happened and haven't seen any updates anywhere.

 

[tjoneslo]

That was an exciting quarterfinals. The live game I watched was the Middlebury - Wesleyan game. The Cardinals were playing a smart, defensive game, it was paying off for them, and they are up 2-0 with two minutes left in the third. The Panthers, who have been dominating play all game, shots are 56-17 at the end of regulation, pull their goaltender and score twice in 40 seconds to tie the game. It takes another period and a half of back and forth play before Midd scores the game winner.

This was exactly the thing teams fear most in these one and done games: The opposition has a hot goaltender and a solid defense. Patrick McDevitt in goal sets a school and NESCAC championship record for number of saves in one game.

Next weekend at Sage rink, Middlebury takes on Bowdoin, having split their games in the regular season. And Hamilton, with an squeeker of an overtime win against Conn College, faces down Williams.

 

[VtD3Fan]

As exciting a hockey game as you’ll ever see.

After the first seven minutes of period one, Midd dominated the game. Wesleyan’s first goal came off a juicy rebound, second one from just enough of a defensive breakdown: Heinze would have liked at least one of those back.

But the story of the game was the dominance of Midd (shots 75 - 25), the record-breaking goaltending from Wesleyan's Patrick McDevitt, and the sheer resilience of this remarkable Middlebury team. As the minutes ticked on, they never panicked, they stuck to their game, and Coach Ceglarski stayed cool as a cucumber.

As promised, their recruiting class has shone. Look at the scoring leaderboard: three of the four top scorers are first-years. No matter the result next weekend - I think Bowdoin is coming in as the favorite - a great year for Panther Hockey.

 

[tjoneslo]

Despite having split their meetings with the Panthers, Bowdoin smells blood. I agree that the PBears are the favorite for the semi-final, but I do think the Panthers will make a game of it.

The other game will also be interesting, Hamilton seems to be running flat right now, when they should be peaking. And Williams, coming off an unset of Tufts, and also having a split with Hamilton, will be looking for the next upset.

I'm not going to guess scores.

 

[CornwallAce]

Watched the Middlebury game online, the Hamilton game and during intermissions, the Williams game. I caught the Middlebury game vs Williams a few weeks ago. The problem with Middlebury to my eyes is that they have no finishers. They put quantity shots on Williams and Wesleyan but not quality. I will say, if these players learn to finish, dang, they're going to be at the top of the league. But they're not there right now. I have mostly watched Hamilton in the second half of the year, and I see a good team, but not a top ranked team. They're really strong on the Power Play, but they don't come close to looking like a dominant team otherwise. In my eyes, what they have going for themselves is that they know how to win, but I have Bowdoin in this tourney. I'm 60-40 on it.