NESCAC 24-25: This time for sure!

[tjoneslo]

Well, The Panther's opening game with a 5-0 drubbing of the Polar Bears was an interesting start to the season. They were playing better than I've seen them do so in more than a decade.

And the Conn College 4-2 win over perennial power house Trinity feeds the speculation. This will be an interesting season.

 

[neumyer]

Colby outshot the Panthers, but they got quality goaltending and timely scoring leading to a 3-1 victory and a sweep of the opening weekend. Midd scored on the PP. SH and even strength. They took a lot of penalties 7, but the penalty kill covered all of them. They need to clean up the penalties. They won't get kills like that if they keep committing them at that rate.

 

[MikeMidd]

Great start for Middlebury. A quick check says that this is the first time the Panthers have swept the opening weekend since 2011-12, and past 3 years they've not earned their first back-to-back wins since 16/19 January 2023-24, 21/27 January in 2022-23 and 12/15 February 2021-22. Well done to Jack Ceglarski and the team.

That said, agree with Neumyer - the Panthers rode their luck big time last night, with too many penalties that reflected some undisciplined play. Hope that was a one-off.

Any word on the injured Colby player? Scary moment to watch on the stream and hope he makes a quick recovery.

As for the NESCAC overall, wonder what odds you'd have had picking Middlebury and Conn College to come out of the weekend with two wins each? But a good rebound by Trinity, who are surely still the favorites.

 

[tjoneslo]

Any word on the injured Colby player? Scary moment to watch on the stream and hope he makes a quick recovery.

I have no update on the Colby player, but it was even scarier to watch in person.

I'm in agreement here. Midd was taking a lot of penalties last year too and it cost them a few games. In addition to their goal-tending the defense has tightened significantly, which really carried them through the game.

 

[neumyer]

Midd blew it against Tufts. I did not see the whole game, but as it started, I thought that Tufts was skating circle around Midd. I wondered if it was the small ice surface giving therm problems. Indeed Tufts did score first, but Midd came back and tied it minutes later. They would go on to score 2 more goals to lead Tufts 3-1 after one period, but the two goals they scored, I felt were more soft goals given up by Tufts. Although Midd cut down on penalties, the ones they gave up hurt them badly. Right out of the chute in the second period, they pick up a 5 minute contact to the head with the 10 minute misconduct. It looked like Midd might get out of the major leading 3-2, but that was not the case. They game up one at the beginning of the penalty and another right at the end of it to make the score 3-3. Shortly after that, Midd gave up another goal and before you knew it, the score was 6-4 Tufts, leading to a 7-3 final. They had a 2 goal lead and then coillapsed. Midd needs to win more faceoffs, too. That would give many more quality possessions. Hopefully better luck against Conn Coll today.

 

[neumyer]

Too bad Midd couldn't hang on for a win or tie against CC. They gave up the go ahead goal with only about 4 minutes left in the game. The Midd freshmen goalie, Sullivan looks like he can play. He is big enough at 6'4". Midd did do better on faceoffs, actually winning more than half of them. Penalties were a problem again. They took 5 minors and although they did kill them off, that means Midd spent 10 minutes in a mostly defensive posture. Maybe without those penalties, the additional offensive time might have led to a goal or two. It would have been nice to get a win or tie since they go into their Thanksgiving tournament on a 2 game losing streak. They will play Marian first and either Plattsburgh or Norwich depending on who wins and loses.

 

[MikeMidd]

Same thoughts, neumyer.

Frustrating to give up the lead on back-to-back nights, especially late on against Conn College. Agree that even though the PK did well, you just have to be more disciplined - it has hurt them in multiple games already.

I'd be curious for thoughts from those closer to Middlebury on what the expectations are for this season. And thoughts on how this recruiting class stacks up to others in the NESCAC.

It'll be a long climb back to being respected and feared in the NESCAC, and I'd assume it's just about being more competitive this year and making the playoffs again, but home ice feels like a stretch?

 

[neumyer]

Same thoughts, neumyer.

Frustrating to give up the lead on back-to-back nights, especially late on against Conn College. Agree that even though the PK did well, you just have to be more disciplined - it has hurt them in multiple games already.

I'd be curious for thoughts from those closer to Middlebury on what the expectations are for this season. And thoughts on how this recruiting class stacks up to others in the NESCAC.

It'll be a long climb back to being respected and feared in the NESCAC, and I'd assume it's just about being more competitive this year and making the playoffs again, but home ice feels like a stretch?

I am not close to the program, but I hope it is moving in the right direction. I look back to the 1990s, 2000s and even before. Midd played at a high level, had a nice on campus rink and drew about 1500-2000 fans for every game. All Coach Beaney had to do is have a recruit come to a game in that beautiful facility, point to the banners on the wall and experience the crowd. At other NESCAC schools hockey would play in anonymity. Now most NESCAC schools have nice rinks and certainly draw as much as Midd does for attendance. It is sad to see 100 or so fans at a game in a facility built for 2000+. They have lost a lot of their advantage in recruiting when Tufts with a rent an ice surface rink can be more appealing to players. If they can get to the upper half of the NESCAC, that would be the first step to returning to prominence.

 

[neumyer]

A big 5 goal second period carried Midd to the championship round of the Layer Eight tournament and a 6-2 victory over Marian. They looked slow and disorganized during the first period and were outshot by a 2 to 1 margin, trailing 1-0. In the second period they answered right back in the first minute or so. By the eight minute mark of the period Midd was up 2-1 and would close the period by scoring 3 goals in 2:12 to lead 5-2. Marian would score in the opening of the third period, but could get no closer, despite carrying the play during most of the third period. Marian would play with the goalie pulled for almost the last 3 minutes of the game which Midd finally took advantage of and scored with about 30 seconds left. Heinze was strong in net for Midd stopping 29 of 31 shots. The Panthers took 5 penalties which they killed off and had 5 power plays of their own in which they went 1/5. I would like to see less penalties because they can't count on keeping the puck out of the net while playing shorthanded. Winning the majority of the faceoffs helped their cause tonight. Midd plays "ancient rival" Norwich tomorrow night, who have their own problems. Still, the Cadets defeated Plattsburgh 1-0. While it would be a big shot in the arm to win the tournament tomorrow night, I am sure that Norwich feels the same way. Drop the puck, it should be a good game.

 

[neumyer]

Congratulations to Middlebury on winning the Layer Eight tournament by defeating Norwich 2-0. The Panthers were outshot 28-21, but Heinze was strong in net again. Uncharacteristically, Norwich has had trouble scoring this year and tonight was no exception. The Cadet's goalie was excellent, too, allowing just one goal, by Oblak, The other goal by Lee was an EN. Midd only had one PP which they did not score on, but the good news is the only allowed one PP. Oblak was MVP of the tournament, Wood, rookie of the tournament and Heinze was named to the all tournament team. AMH and HAM are up next on the road and a minimum of one win over that weekend would be a positive.

 

[tjoneslo]

And around the NESCAC, of the 18 games the NESCAC teams played this weekend went 11-6-1 with 5 games going to overtime. A respectable showing.

 

[MikeMidd]

A great weekend to be a Panther, as Middlebury continues the undefeated start at home with two good wins. While the rivals from the other side of the mountains may not be at their best, any game against Norwich is a battle and every victory is a big one.

In the process, Middlebury seems to have found a quality starting goalie in Andrew Heinze, who faced almost 60 shots on the weekend and gave up just two goals, now with a save percentage of .941. It's a bit of a concern that Middlebury is indeed giving up that many shots (averaging just under 30 saves per game), but hopefully the strong performances in net continue.

And agree a good showing from NESCAC teams out of conference overall, though would be curious to look at the match-ups against top teams. I noticed that Geneseo swept Williams and Amherst for example. Will be interesting to see over the next month how NESCAC teams perform against other ranked teams nationally.

 

[MikeMidd]

Oof. A rough weekend to be a Panther, that one.

4-1 loss at Amherst and 6-0 loss at Hamilton really take the shine off the tournament win and momentum from the first few weeks of the season. The Panthers are now 4-4-0, with only 5 goals scored and 19 given up in four road games. And more penalties and power-play goals conceded against Hamilton (3-6 on PP).

As for others, Trinity now 6-1-1 on the season, but Hamilton 6-2-0 and looking strong on the season - just a loss to Trinity and a real surprise loss to Fredonia thus far. On the other side, Tufts like Middlebury sits at 2-4-0 in the NESCAC and presumably will be thinking about how to keep up with the pack ahead rather than get stuck battling for the final one or two playoffs spots.

 

[neumyer]

Oof. A rough weekend to be a Panther, that one.

4-1 loss at Amherst and 6-0 loss at Hamilton really take the shine off the tournament win and momentum from the first few weeks of the season. The Panthers are now 4-4-0, with only 5 goals scored and 19 given up in four road games. And more penalties and power-play goals conceded against Hamilton (3-6 on PP).

As for others, Trinity now 6-1-1 on the season, but Hamilton 6-2-0 and looking strong on the season - just a loss to Trinity and a real surprise loss to Fredonia thus far. On the other side, Tufts like Middlebury sits at 2-4-0 in the NESCAC and presumably will be thinking about how to keep up with the pack ahead rather than get stuck battling for the final one or two playoffs spots.

Thankfully, the Panthers have semester break right now. They need some time off to regroup. When you get out scored 10-1 on the weekend, you are in a world of hurt. 9 penalties in the Hamilton game didn’t help them either. Wouldn’t you know, the one goal they scored against Amherst to get the lead, they surrendered the equalizer 59 seconds later and were trailing in the game soon after. The Amherst game was the one on the weekend I thought they might prevail in. Boy, was I wrong. Hopefully things will be better after the holidays!

 

[tjoneslo]

So I'm a little confused by the Adrian tournament happening... around now. On Sunday it was Adrian vs. Aurora (6-4 win for Adrian), Monday it was Aurora vs Bowdoin (9-3 win for Aurora) and today it is Adrian vs Bowdoin (I expect another crushing blowout loss for Bowdoin). So a Tournament with three teams?

Or was there supposed to be a fourth and they couldn't make it?

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

So I'm a little confused by the Adrian tournament happening... around now. On Sunday it was Adrian vs. Aurora (6-4 win for Adrian), Monday it was Aurora vs Bowdoin (9-3 win for Aurora) and today it is Adrian vs Bowdoin (I expect another crushing blowout loss for Bowdoin). So a Tournament with three teams?

Or was there supposed to be a fourth and they couldn't make it?

My guess is there was probably a fourth team and something happened to prevent them from being able to attend late and then they couldn't find a fourth to fill it in time.

It happens from time to time and when it's down to three, the only way to do it is a round-robin format over three days so every team gets their two games.

 

[neumyer]

Middlebury finished well on Saturday against SUNY Canton scoring 5 unanswered goals in the 3rd period to advance to the tournament final 5-2. Things didn't go quite as well on Sunday as they lost 4-1 against Salem State in what, I believe, was a winnable game. The Panthers kept penalties down and won more of their share of the faceoffs. They also enjoyed a bunch of power plays and with that a big edge in SOG , but they could not find the back of the net. I guess alot of credit is due the Salem goaltender. At this juncture it looks as if Midd might end up a .500 team which would hopefully put them in the latter half of the NESCAC tournament, but this is only a guess and there is a lot of hockey to play.

 

[tjoneslo]

Well, That was a frustrating game. Middlebury vs. Trinity comes away with a 4-2 win by Trinity in a game that saw more penalty minutes than game minutes. The Panthers were playing well despite taking many penaties, and gave up only one goal on the penalty kill.

Take-away's from the game:
1. Midd needs a lot more discipline, or better refs. Their constant penalties disrupt their flow and ability to generate offense.
2. The Panther's lack a really good shooter. It's the last piece of the offense.
3. The title of the thread was from watching Trinity last year go to the NCAA finals. The hope was they would be able to do better this year. But I'm not seeing them be capable of a repeat performance. They're good, but not as confident and dominate as they were last year.

 

[MikeMidd]

Another interesting NESCAC weekend.

Hamilton seemingly is the class of the league, which makes that thumping that Middlebury received look a bit better (though not good still). Agree that Trinity look to have lost a little bit, though who knows if they'll turn it on. But the NESCAC is likely to be only a one-bid league unless things really turn. Meanwhile, while Tufts have only played six, they can't be happy to be in second-last place.

Interesting weekend for Middlebury. Tight game against Trinity where the Panthers' lack of discipline was their own enemy. Much different against Wesleyan in terms of penalties but a close game against the cellar dwellers.

The Panthers have played everyone but Williams at least once. A certain amount of "if only" and "so close", with the losses to Conn and Trinity, but lots of room for improvement with big losses to Hamilton, Amherst and Tufts. Reaching .500 in conference and overall would be a good step forward, they've not finished above .500 in conference in four years and above .500 overall in more than a decade. Taking steps forward and hopefully bringing in strong recruits.

Random one: Do the students who attend (in much smaller numbers now) still sing "Cheer Boys Cheer" after goals?

 

[neumyer]

Midd could have won that Trinity game, but they keep surrendering leads in the third period. Fortunately, they did beat Wesleyan, which they should have. Going down 1-3 early against a cellar dweller didn’t look great, but they showed come character coming back to win the game. Still they gave up a goal which allowed Wesleyan to draw within 1 with about 5 minutes left in the game. The Panthers need find a way to close out games. Tonight, they should prevail against St Mike’s, but as a D2 school the win won’t count towards their power rankings.