Trailing 2-0 with 9:09 remaining in regulation, the fourth-seeded Middlebury men's ice hockey team tallied a pair of goals spanning 37 seconds late in Saturday's third period to send the game to overtime. Tyler Wishart played hero in the second extra session, tallying the decisive score with 9:56 remaining for a 3-2 victory over fifth-seeded Wesleyan in the NESCAC Quarterfinal. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Jon Groth skated into the offensive zone and ripped a shot from the circles with 1:30 expired but Panther netminder Andrew Heinze read the bid and smothered the puck.
• Wesleyan nearly cashed in with an extra skater with five minutes expired. Connor Sutherland rifled his shot through a screen, but Heinze guided it aside with his stick.
• Middlebury turned up the pressure with consecutive point-blank chances with four minutes remaining. Christian Wood smashed a chance that Wesleyan goalie Patrick McDevitt stonewalled. Landon Brownlee won the battle for the rebound in the crease, but McDevitt shifted and covered the bid.
• The hosts had a power-play opportunity with 18:00 elapsed. Luc Malkhassian fired a riser that McDevitt punched away. Reece Brednich tried his luck with 37 ticks left on a backhand chance on the left post. The Cardinal netminder stood his ground and deflected the opportunity away with his pad.
• Wishart redirected a shot with 2:23 expired in the second stanza that bounced off McDevitt's chest and was smothered.
• Wesleyan grabbed a 1-0 lead at the 7:55 mark of the second period. Danny Judge fired a chance that ricocheted off Heinze's pads. A Panther stick tried to clear a bounding puck out of the zone, but Jack Bosco settled it and found the right side of the net. 
• Malkhassian had a one-timer with 4:50 left in the second stanza ricochet off McDevitt's facemask and behind the net.
• Wesleyan nearly increased its advantage late in the period. Danny Markham hustled past the Panther defense for a one-on-one opportunity against Heinze. The Panther netminder held his ground and stonewalled the chance on the right post.
• Middlebury hunted a marker in the opening stages of the third period. At the 3:52 mark, Dimitri Tzaferis had a point-blank bid stuffed by McDevitt. Palombo collected the loose puck and tried a rebound that pushed wide of the left post.
• The Cardinals doubled their edge with 9:09 left. Jack DesRuisseaux tapped a feed from below the goal line to a darting Owen Mahar, who snuck it past Heinze.
• Middlebury pulled its goalie for an extra skater with 3:28 left and cut the deficit in half about at the 1:55 mark. Moskowitz fired a quick pass to Malkhassian, who redirected the puck into the back of the net.
• The hosts were not done, knotting the contest 37 ticks later. A shot by Wishart was blocked by a Wesleyan defender and sat at the top of the crease. John Halverson tapped it to his right to Brownlee. The rookie wasted no time, smashing it in the right side of the net.
• Middlebury continued to keep the momentum in the first overtime, outshooting the Cardinals 14-5. McDevitt stood tall, making multiple highlight reel stops to keep the Panthers off the board.
• The hosts did not slow down in the second extra session. Jake Stevens fired a laser 52 seconds in that clanged off the right side of the crossbar.
• Wesleyan pressured the net with 15:39 left via a riser from Judge that bounced off the shaft of Heinze's stick and behind the back of the net. 
• After Brednich and Stevens had consecutive shots ring off the pipe, the navy and white finally broke through. Brownlee tapped the puck off the boards to a streaking Wishart. The forward hustled up the ice and cut before finding space in the right side of the net to give Middlebury the thrilling 3-2 victory.

NOTES

• Wishart scored his first game-winning tally as a Panther, alongside adding an assist on the game-tying goal late in regulation.
• Brownlee tied his career-high with two points (1G, 1A).
• The contest was the second-longest game (89:56) in NESCAC Men's Hockey Tournament history, trailing only the 2019 semifinal between Amherst and Wesleyan that needed 91:03 to decide a victor.
• Middlebury and the Cardinals met for the 65th time, with the Panthers holding a 44-16-5 advantage in the all-time series. The navy and white also maintain a 3-2 edge in NESCAC Tournament play against Wesleyan.

The Panthers move on to the NESCAC Semifinals on Saturday, March 7 with a time and location yet to be determined.