The USM men’s hockey team was three minutes away from knocking off number-three-ranked Middlebury College on Saturday.
But two late flurries in front of net yielded a pair of scores and the Panthers remained unbeaten with a 5-4 win over USM.
Middlebury senior Ian Drummond capitalized on the skirmishes with a goal and an assist to help the Panthers remain unbeaten and overcome a late 4-3 deficit.
Drummond set-up teammate Ken Suchoski at the 17:31 mark in the third period to tie the game and then jammed his own shot past USM goalie Jamie Gilbert (Lewiston) with 29 seconds remaining to secure the win.
“Sometimes you get the bounces and the puck hits the side of the net, other times it bounces off someone and goes in like it did tonight,” Coach Jeff Beaney said of the squandered lead.
The Huskies were leading late in the game off two goals from sophomore Zach Joy (Dover, NH) and scores from juniors Pat Noonan (Burlington, MA) and Chris Travis (Scituate, MA), but watched their record fall below .500 at 3-4 overall.
“We know what we can do when we get guys to play 60 minutes,” Joy said of the near up-set, “But [Middlebury] showed what happens when you don’t.”
The Huskies, who were coming off a big 6-3 win over Williams College, were looking to put together a streak heading into the end of the semester.
Without three key players, the Huskies were somewhat satisfied with the trajectory of their season thus far.
“Every game we’re getting progressively better and better,” Joy added.
Now sitting at 2-2 in ECAC action, the Huskies will have to continue that trend if they hope to win their division and playoff games in Gorham.
The teams traded goals in the first period after Noonan negated Middlebury’s early lead. Joy then gave USM a 2-1 lead with his goal in the first minute of the second stanza. Middlebury answered with two goals of their own to take the 3-2 lead heading into the game’s final period.
Trailing by a goal, Joy struck again, tying the game at three off a pass from senior Kyle Smith (Auburn). It was Travis who found the back of the net at 14:17 mark in the third to give the Huskies their final lead of the game.
Senior captain Ben Loss (Wilmette, IL) saw some promising moments in the game but was still disappointed.
“It’s different when you’re leading the squad because you’ve got no excuse. You’ve got to find something about it to make you a better team,” Loss said. “I think we’ve found guys were can rely on.”
Loss was quick to dismiss the impact of missing players, however, saying that the team played as well as they would have otherwise since other players stepped up.
Coach Beaney was impressed with his team’s heady play with the puck against a very skilled Middlebury team.
“Hockey’s a game of turnovers and we were a lot smarter with where we’re turning if over,” Beaney, whose brother coaches Middlebury, said.
Beaney said he was also satisfied with the improvement of his younger players who are getting more ice time and added that it’s better to be playing well at the end of the season, a sentiment shared by Loss.
The Huskies, who have played three nationally recognized teams in Norwich, Manhattanville and Middlebury, have played one of the hardest schedules in the nation thus far and hope to turn their experience against those teams into victories down the stretch.
“We’ve got games now that we’re supposed to win,” Loss said, adding that those games can’t be overlooked.
The Huskies will hope to end their semester on a strong note when they play at Salem State on Dec. 12.