Middlebury's
Chris Garbe scored the game-winning goal 2:22 into overtime, lifting the men's hockey team (2-8-2, 1-7-1) past Hamilton 3-2 on Tuesday evening. The Panthers travel to Tufts on Friday for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop, while the Continentals (5-6-0, 4-5-0) host Wesleyan.
Hamilton came out strong, with Nick Rutigliano getting a quality bid just 17 seconds into the game, but his shot from just inside the blue line ricocheted off the crossbar. Middlebury opened the scoring at the 10:27 mark during a four-on-four.
Jin Lee gathered the puck in the defensive end and skated to the blue line before feeding a pass to
Nolan Moore on the top of the left faceoff circle. Moore one-timed the puck into the goal for his first collegiate tally.
The Continentals tied the game 1-1 with 5:42 elapsed in the second frame. An initial shot by Grisha Gotovets was denied by Panther netminder
Jake Horoho. Scott McKenzie kicked the rebound to William Neault who slipped the puck past Horoho. Hamilton took a 2-1 edge at the 10:57 mark when Jordi Jefferson intercepted a pass. He skated one-on-one towards Horoho, before faking to his left and lifting the puck over Horoho's shoulder for the short-handed tally.
The Panthers had a great chance to knot the game with 8:41 expired in the third period when
Alex Lee took a shot from point blank range that goaltender Sean Storr stopped. The rebound trickled behind Storr, but a Continental defender got there just in time to clear the puck. Middlebury found the equalizer at the 14:20 mark when Garbe's shot from the right point slipped past Storr, making it 2-2 and sending the contest into overtime.
During the extra session, Hamilton had a great chance to end the game with back-to-back shots at the 2:01 mark. Horoho thwarted the initial shot, before making a sprawling save on the rebound attempt to keep the contest tied. The game-winning goal came with 2:22 showing on the clock. Garbe intercepted a failed clearing attempt by the Continentals, carried the puck into the slot and lifted it past Storr for the 3-2 final.
Horoho earned the win in goal with 24 saves, while Storr also had 24 stops during the contest.
