Middlebury's Jocko DeCarolis earned a hat-trick with his first three goals of the season as Middlebury picked up a 6-2 win over St. Michael's in the Kenyon Arena.
The Panthers out shot the Purple Knights 49-14 on the afternoon. Middlebury took a 1-0 lead 5:22 into the game as Kyle Koziara carried the puck through center ice and snapped a shot into the top right corner from the face-off circle. Evgeny Saidachev scored on a similar goal at 13:13 from the slot. St. Michael's opened the second period on a power play, one minute of which was a five-on-three. The Purple Knights mustered up a few shots, but were unable to score.
The Panthers then turned up the offense with three goals in a 9:16 span. The first of the three was scored on the power play by DeCarolis, as he put home a rebound after a shot from Jeff Smith. John Sales stuffed home a rebound at 13:13, before Richie Fuld made a nice feed to DeCarolis for a one-timer in the high slot.
St. Michael's got on the board 6:47 into the third period as Tim Dancey scored with a high shot after a nice drop pass from Jared Silver. Middlebury answered just 26 seconds later as DeCarolis notched the hat-trick with a shot from the slot after a feed from Fuld. Silver scored the game's final goal for St. Michael's at the 9:30 mark.
Yen-I Chen made 12 saves in goal to earn the win, while Derek Jackson stopped 43 shots in a losing effort.
Date: February 4, 2006 - 4:00 p.m
Venue: Kenyon Arena - Site: Middlebury, Vt.
TEAM 1 2 3 OT F
St. Michael's (7-10-4) 0 0 2 - 2
Middlebury (17-1-2) 2 3 1 - 6
SCORING
M-1st (5:22) - Kyle Koziara (Brett Shirreffs)
M-1st (13:13) - Evgeny Saidachev (Tom Maldonado, Robert MacIntyre)
M-2nd (8:08) - PP: Jocko DeCarolis (Jeff Smith, Jed McDonald)
M-2nd (13:13) - John Sales (Shirreffs, Richie Fuld)
M-2nd (17:23) - DeCarolis (Fuld, McDonald)
Sm-3rd (6:47) - Tim Dancey (Jared Silver, Andrick Deppmeyer)
M-3rd (7:13) - DeCarolis (Fuld, Kyle Koziara)
Sm-3rd (9:30) - Silver (Alex Watts, Deppmeyer)
GOALTENDING (saves)
Yen-I Chen-M (60 min., 12 saves, 2 GA)
Derek Jackson-Sm (60 min., 43 saves, 6 GA)
