Trailing 2-1 following the first period, the Middlebury men's ice hockey team blanked Amherst over the final 40 minutes and tallied two unanswered goals to secure a 3-2 triumph on Friday evening.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The hosts tested the opposing netminder early. Cole Semeniuk collected the puck at the blue line and delivered a quick bid that Mammoth goalie Vincent Lamberti smothered with 4:22 expired in the opening period.
• Josh Burke logged the visitors' initial chance with 14:46 to play in the session,  delivering a shot to the left side of the net that Panther netminder Andrew Heinze covered for the save.
• Middlebury scored the game's first goal at the 5:46 mark. A pressured John Halverson flicked a feed to Tyler Wishart behind the goal, who found an unmarked Jack Silverman near the left faceoff spot for a one-timer into the left side and the early 1-0 edge.
• Vincent Velocci had a chance to tie the contest with 12:56 remaining, but his open look between the circles thumped off the left pad of Heinze.
• Settling a feed from Ray Hou, Oliver Flynn stood behind Heinze and faked a pass to his left before connecting with Romulus Riego de Dios on the right. The Mammoth lifted his shot into the net to tie the contest at 1-1 with 10:12 expired.
• Amherst was assessed a penalty with 3:17 left in the stanza, but made the most of its situation 55 seconds later. Zack Jesse launched a long pass up the ice to Burke, who collected the puck off the boards and zipped a bid inside the right post to give the guests a 2-1 advantage that endured the frame's closing minutes.
• Halverson crafted a Panther opportunity just 2:27 into the second period, collecting the puck at the blue line and skirting through three defenders before pushing a shot off Lamberti's right pad.
• The Mammoths aimed to cash in on a power-play with 12:30 left, generating two quick chances in 21 seconds. Their best opportunity came 70 seconds into the penalty when Heinze denied Flynn's attempt at the right post.
• Wishart knotted the contest at the 11:09 mark. Edward Moskowitz guided the puck to a cluster of players in front of the goal before Wishart and Luc Malkhassian each had an attempt blocked and saved, respectively. Wishart stepped to Malkhassian's rebound and nudged a bid into the right side to tie the tilt at 2-2.
• Heinze turned away the stanza's final on-target attempt with 6:45 left. Quinton Gove fired a shot from just inside the blue line that bounced off the netminder's pad to maintain the deadlock heading to the final period.
• Just 13 seconds into the third frame, Dimitri Tzaferis gained possession in the defensive zone and found Jackson Morehouse ahead in the neutral zone. Morehouse cut right and delivered a low bid that Lamberti saved, but Landon Brownlee dashed forward and tapped the rebound past the goal line for the 3-2 edge with 19:47 to play.
• Hou tested the Panther back line with 10:54 elapsed, darting up the ice and dodging left with the puck before Heinze extended a glove to cover his try for the save.
• Amherst emptied the net for the final 1:37 of action in hopes of a late score, but Heinze made a pair of saves and Middlebury blocked two shots to secure the 3-2 triumph.

NOTES

• Brownlee and Wishart notched their initial markers with the navy and white. The latter also added an assist and won 10 of 13 faceoff attempts in the win.
• The programs met for the 98th time with the Panthers owning a 65-28-5 advantage.
• Friday's win snapped a six-game Mammoth winning streak in the series.

Middlebury concludes the calendar year on Saturday, hosting #6 Hamilton at 3:00 p.m. The contest will serve as a Center for Community Engagement Game.