The Middlebury men's ice hockey team trimmed the deficit to two in the third period but could not stage a comeback in a 5-2 loss to Trinity on Friday.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Bantams challenged Panther goaltender Andrew Heinze with consecutive shots by Blake Cotton and Oliver Gabrielson in the opening minute, but the netminder made the stops.
• Middlebury started to turn up the heat in the middle of the period. Revy Mack, Landon Brownlee and John Halverson tested Devon Bobak over a span of two minutes, but the Trinity goalie stepped up and steered each shot aside. 
• The sides continued to trade chances until the Bantams cashed in on the power play with 46 ticks remaining in the period. James Barbour collected a cross-ice pass from Ian Spencer and fired a one-timer that snuck underneath the bar for a 1-0 lead.
• The hosts doubled their lead with 3:15 elapsed in the second stanza. Nolan Hayes made a quick one-two move to create space and found the back of the net from between the faceoff circles. 
• Middlebury looked to cut the deficit in half about five minutes later. A shot on target from Jackson Morehouse sparked three chances for the Panther offense, but Bobak stopped each attempt. 
• At the 14:41 mark, the Panthers went on the power play.  Edward Moskowitz (15:28), Luc Malkhassian (16:06) and Morehouse (16:39) rifled bids during the stretch, but Bobak stood his ground and stonewalled the chances to keep the visitors off the board. 
• Trinity added its third goal with 2:20 remaining in the second period, as Cotton found the left side of the net following a faceoff. 
• The Bantams opened a wild third period by stretching the lead to 4-0 off the stick of Connor Sedlak at the 3:26 mark.
• Middlebury broke into the scoring column with 12:10 remaining. Cole Thomas skated behind the net and flipped a pass to Cole Semeniuk. The rookie created space and fired into the right side of the net to put the visitors on the board.
• The Panthers were not done in the stanza, cutting the lead in half 40 seconds later. Reece Brednich backhanded a rebound that plopped over Bobak's glove and trickled to the other side of the goal line. 
• Middlebury pulled Heinze for an extra skater with 1:47 remaining, but the Bantams tallied an empty netter to seal the 5-2 win.

NOTES

• Brednich recorded his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
• Semeniuk scored for the first time in the navy and white.
• Middlebury and Trinity met for the 55th time.

The Panthers continue their road trip with a battle against Wesleyan on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.