After losing last season on their home rink, and in front of a capacity crowd the Middlebury Panthers exacted some revenge on Wisconsin-Stevens Point Friday night. The No. 1 team in that nation scored the first four goals of the game and never let up, winning a dominating 7-1 decision over fourth-ranked UWSP.
The Panthers scored twice in the first period. Scott Goldman got things going just 3:29 in with a power-play goal from Matt Dunn and Maxime LeBlanc, and Andrew Helming added an even-strength tally five minutes later with a helper going to Erick Dalton.
Likewise, the second period got off to a good start for Middlebury, which extended its lead to 3-0 53 seconds in on Scot Curtin’s goal.
Four minutes later, Kevin Cooper added to the lead, though the Pointers finally got on the board at the 8:28 mark of the period on a rebound goal by Pierre Nicolet, ending the Panthers’ scoreless streak at 268:28 which had stretched back to the start of the season.
That would be it for the Pointer scoring on the night, but not for Middlebury. Matt Snyder launched a rocket from just inside the blue line that beat Pointer goalie Bob Gould to round out the second period scoring at 5-1.
Middlebury finished out the contest with a pair of power-play goals coming from Helming and Adam Foote for the final score of 7-1.
On the night, the Pointers went 0-for-7 on the power play while Middlebury was 3-for-7. Panther goalie Christian Carlsson continued his hot play, making 18 saves on 19 shots; the Pointer tandem of Gould and Dave Cinelli combined for 27 saves on 34 shots.
