Middlebury's Charlie Strauss scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season as the Panthers scored three goals in the final 8:13 of play to pull away for a 4-1 victory over Colby College in a New England Small College Athletic Conference men's hockey game Friday night at Alfond Rink.
The two teams nearly battled to two scoreless periods, but Strauss scored unassisted with just 36 seconds left to the second intermission.
Colby (6-9-1 overall, 5-6-1 NESCAC) received an unassisted goal of its own from Spike Smigelski (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) at 5:36 of the third period and suddenly the game was tight and tied at 1-1. Smigelski scored his sixth goal of the season.
Michael Longo's centering pass from the corner found Chris Steele in front for the game-winning goal at 11:47 of the third period for a 2-1 Panther lead. Steele scored his first goal of the season and Longo picked up his third assist.
The Panthers (7-5-3 overall, 5-4-2 NESCAC), improve to 6-1-3 in their last 10 games, added an insurance goal from Strauss at 13:38 from Martin Drolet and Trevor Pollock. Tucker Donahoe fired in an empty net goal with 1:11 to play.
John Yanchek stopped 25 shots for Middlebury, while James Lemonias made 23 saves for Colby.
BOX SCORE
