The Middlebury men's ice hockey team returned to NESCAC action on Friday, skating to a 1-1 tie at Wesleyan. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• The Panthers looked to score early in the opening period with a trio of shots in the first minute. The best chance came from Wyatt Pastor who tried to stuff in a shot that was saved by Wesleyan goalie Erik Voloshin.
• The Cardinals had a great chance 5:22 into the period when a wrister through traffic from Kyle Anderson was saved by the right pad of Middlebury netminder Andrew Heinze.
• Wesleyan scored the contest's first goal when Connor Sutherland collected a rebound on the right side of the crease and poked the puck inside the right post for the 1-0 lead with 10:19 gone.
• The Panthers had a quality chance to tie the contest at 9:51 of the second stanza when Zach Whitehead sent a backhanded shot toward the top corner that Voloshin saved using his stick.
• Middlebury earned another opportunity minutes later with an extra skater, but back-to-back bids in the final seconds of the chance from Whitehead and Andrej Hromic were stopped by the pads of Voloshin.
• The Cardinals looked to increase their advantage with 6:02 left, but a tipped shot by Dallas D'Amato went just wide of the left post.
• The Panthers knotted the contest at 1-1 with 0.5 seconds remaining in the stanza, as a shot from the left dot by Jake Oblak found its way through traffic and into the left side of the net. 
• Wesleyan manufactured a chance 4:11 into the third frame when Anderson ripped a shot that was deflected before Heinze smothered the knuckling puck.
• With 9:23 elapsed, Michael Fairfax nearly gave Middlebury the lead, but his quick wrister from the right circle was saved by the glove of Voloshin.
• The Cardinals called timeout with 56.1 seconds left in regulation with an offensive zone faceoff but were unable to produce any chances to send the game to overtime.
• Skating 3-on-3 in the extra session, Jin Lee provided the best chance 56 seconds into action as his left-handed shot was saved by Voloshin's right pad for the final 1-1 score.

NOTES 

• The goal was Oblak's first of the season.
• Heinze stopped 22 of 23 shots during Friday's contest. He has saved 56 of 58 shots over the last two games.
• The programs played for the 61st time with Middlebury holding a 41-15-5 advantage in the all-time series.

The Panthers remain on the road Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. league tilt at 15th-ranked Trinity.