Hartford, Conn. - Trinity College sophomore forward Greg O’Leary (Reading, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 3-2 win over the visiting and previously undefeated Middlebury College Panthers in New England Small College Athletic Conference men’s ice hockey action this afternoon.

Trinity, ranked No. 13 in NCAA Division III, improves to 9-2-1 and a perfect 6-0 in the NESCAC, while No. 1 Middlebury falls to 7-1-1 and 3-1 in the league with its first loss of the season. The win was the sixth in the last seven games for the Bantams who are alone in first place in the NESCAC.

After the Panthers took a 1-0 lead 2:09 into the game on a goal by senior defenseman Maxine LeBlanc (Laval, Quebec), Bantam junior forward Mark Colwell (Canton, Mass.) tied the score at 1-1 on assists from sophomore forward Dustim Kim (Laurel, Md.) and junior forward Ryan Beale (Hingham, Mass.) with 10:50 to go in the first period.

O’Leary beat Middlebury freshman netminder Marc Schuer (Pointe Claire, Quebec) 4:40 later to give Trinity the lead at 2-1, and senior forward Denis Petrov (Novokuznetsk, Russia) extended the Bantam lead to two goals with :35 seconds left in the period.

Middlebury pulled within one in the second stanza on a power play goal by freshman forward Adam Foote (New Hartford, N.Y.), but Trinity junior goalie Geoff Faulkner (Westerville, Ohio) held the Panthers scoreless the rest of the way. Faulkner finished with 21 saves, while Schuer made five stops before giving way to junior Christian Carlsson (Linkoping, Sweden). Carlsson notched 16 saves while holding Trinity scoreless for two periods.

Middlebury (7-1-1)                         1 1 0 -- 2

Trinity, Conn. (9-2-1)                      3 0 0 -- 3

SCORING

M- Maxime LeBlanc (Matt Dunn, Matt Snyder) 2:09, TC- Mark Colwell (Dustin Kim, Ryan Beale) 9:10, TC- Greg O’Leary (Jeff Griffin) 13:50, TC- Denis Petrov (Andrew Halder, Dan Gyllstrom) 19:25.

M- Adam Foote (Matt Skoglund) pp 10:26.

GOALIE SAVES

M- Marc Schuer (19:25) - 5, Christian Carlsson (41:35) - 16

TC- Geoff Faulkner - 21.

PENALTIES

M- 6/23

TC- 7/14

POWER PLAY

M- 1/7

TC- 0/5