Sunday, March 9, 2003
TRINITY MEN’S ICE HOCKEY WINS NESCAC
TITLE WITH WIN AT MIDDLEBURY
Bantams Earn First Ever NCAA
Tournament Bid
Middlebury, Vt. – Sophomore goaltender Doug Kisielius (Park Ridge, Ill.) made 32 saves to lead the visiting Trinity College Bantams to a 4-2 victory over the Middlebury College Panthers in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men’s Ice Hockey Championship Finals this afternoon.
Trinity, ranked No. 11 in the nation, improves to 19-5-2 with its sixth straight win and earns an automatic bid to its first NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. The Panthers, ranked No. 2 in the nation, fall to 21-4-2 and snaps a 20-game unbeaten streak. Middlebury, which had won the first three NESCAC Championships since the inception of the tournament in 1999-00, is likely to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as well.
Trinity will visit Norwich in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament Quarterfinals on Sat., Mar. 15 at 7 p.m. In other quarterfinal games, Middlebury hosts Elmira, and Oswego State hosts Wentworth Tech. St. John's (Minn.) visits Wisc.-River Falls in o play-in game on Mar. 12 with the winner traveling to St. Norbert for a quarterfinal game on Mar. 15. The semifinals and finals will be played at a site to be determined on Fri., Mar. 21 and Sat., Mar. 22.
Trinity got on the board first at the 6:16 mark as freshman defenseman Peter Langella (Manchester, N.H.) hit sophomore forward Ryan Stevens (Concord, N.H.) with a great crossing pass in transition for the goal. The Bantams continued to charge at the nine minute mark on the power play but Stevens was turned away on the doorstep by Panther freshman goalie Yen-I Chen (Rigaud, Quebec).
Middlebury had a chance to tie the game at 7:15 of the second period, but sophomore forward Tim Graham (North Reading, Mass.) was denied by Kiselius on a nice, low shot attempt. Trinity came back 12:04 into the second frame, when junior forward Steve LaBrie (Springfield, Mass.) beat his defender on the left wing and snapped a shot into the top left corner of the net. Middlebury answered just 24 seconds into a power play at 14:46 as junior forward Kevin Cooper (Mississauga, Ontario) put home a rebound from the doorstep after a shot from freshman forward Shady Young (Bethlehem, Pa.).
The Bantams rallied again after only 43 seconds had passed. Junior forward Dan Gyllstrom (Hudson, Mass.) scored from the slot on a rebound following a shot from freshman Cameron Finch (Acton, Mass.). The Bantams sealed the game with an empty-net goal at 16:37 by sophomore forward Joseph Ori (Niles, Ill.) on a slapper from close range. Sophomore defenseman Patrick Nugent (Lynnfield, Mass.) cut the lead to 4-2 with 1:35 left on a power play goal, but it wasn't enough as Trinity came away with the 4-2 win.
Chen made 13 saves in goal for Middlebury, which outshot the Bantams, 34-17. Trinity was outshot in each of its three NESCAC Tournament games by a combined tally of 115-60, winning a pair of 3-2 overtime contests to reach the finals. Gyllstrom and Ori tallied a goal and an assist apiece, while Langella and Finch each finished with two helpers for the Bantams.
| Teams | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Final |
| Trinity, Conn. (19-5-2) | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- | 4 |
| Middlebury (21-4-2) | 0 | 1 | 1 | -- | 2 |