Following a weekend that saw one upset, a bid for another foiled, and a national power continue its winning ways, the NESCAC men's hockey tournament heads into the semifinal round Saturday with three squads vying to knock off three-time defending champion Middlebury and claim their first-ever conference title.
Winners of the last three national championships, the second-seeded Panthers had one of the easiest first-round matches of any of last weekend's four winners, easily dispatching No. 7 Williams 5-1 behind a three-goal barrage in the opening 7:39 of the first period. With the victory, Middlebury improved to 18-1 all-time in the NESCAC Tournament, the lone setback coming in the 2003 title game against Trinity.
On an 8-2-2 tear in their last 12 games, the Panthers will face third-seeded Colby, which breezed by Conn. College in the Camels' first-ever appearance in the NESCAC Tournament. When Colby and Middlebury faced off on Jan. 12, the Mules came from two goals down in the third period to hand the Panthers their fourth loss of the season. A vastly improved Middlebury squad awaits Colby this time around, however, as Middlebury has dropped just three games since the schools last met.
The other semifinal will feature a match-up of teams that struggled to advance beyond the first-round. Having entered the tournament with five losses in its final six regular season games, fifth-seeded Amherst got back on track Saturday, scoring the quarterfinals' lone upset by edging No. 4 Wesleyan on the road 2-0. Sophomore goaltender and NESCAC Player of the Week A.J. Scola led his Lord Jeff team, stopping 33 shots in just his fourth start of the season, and dealt the Cardinals their only shutout of the year.
Amherst now heads to Bowdoin to take on the top-seeded Polar Bears, who scored six unanswered goals in the second and third periods to surmount a two-goal deficit and survive a first-round scare from No. 8 Trinity. With the victory, Bowdoin improved to 12-0 at home this year, but just 4-3 all-time at Dayton Arena during the NESCAC Tournament.
If Middlebury and Bowdoin advance to Sunday's championship game, it will mark the third year in a row the two teams meet for the NESCAC title, with the Panthers narrowly winning the previous two. An upset by Colby or Amherst would mark both teams' first-ever trips to the conference championship game.
-by Sapna Bansil
