The Middlebury men's ice hockey team stunned #11 Norwich with a resounding 3-0 victory on Tuesday evening. The Panthers had three different goal scorers during the win, and have now triumphed in two of the last three meetings against the Cadets.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Middlebury dominated the opening period with its best chance to score coming with 12:08 expired. Chris Garbe stole the puck from a Norwich player in the neutral zone and beat a defender to setup a breakaway attempt, but his point-blank bid was denied by goalie Sami Molu.
• With just over five minutes left in the stanza, the Cadets had their only quality opportunity. Colin Elliott skirted around the back of the goal and fed a nice pass in front of the crease that Clark Kerner one-timed, but Middlebury netminder Jake Horoho sprawled out to deny the attempt.
• At the 8:48 mark of the middle period, the Panthers made it 1-0. Jake Oblak snagged the puck along the boards in front of Norwich's bench and weaved around a defender as he skated into the offensive zone. Oblak sent a cross-ice pass in the high slot that Matt Myers one-timed for a beautiful bar-down tally.
• Norwich had its second power play of the stanza midway through, but the Panther defense once again killed off the penalty and denied the Cadets a goal.
• The Panthers came out of the intermission strong, firing in another tally with just 1:50 elapsed in the final frame. An initial shot by Ryan Pineault from the right dot was denied, but Mack Revy was there to lift the rebound over the left shoulder of Molu for the 2-0 lead.
• The best chance for Norwich to spoil the shut out came with just over 10 minutes remaining, but Bryan O'Mara's bid from the top of the left faceoff circle pinged off the crossbar and ricocheted away.
• Middlebury secured the triumph at the 12:35 mark when Andrej Hromic shoveled in a rebound off an initial bid from Paddy Bogart for the 3-0 advantage.
• The Cadets pulled their goalie with 2:40 left in the contest, but the strong Panther defense was able to turn away all five shots to preserve the three-goal shutout.

NOTES

• Tonight marked the 161st meeting between the programs, with Middlebury improving its record to 83-69-9. 
• The Panthers are one of just three teams to shut out Norwich this season.
• Hromic's goal was his second against the Cadets this year.

Middlebury continues its homestand this weekend, hosting Colby on Friday night and Bowdoin on Saturday afternoon.