Middlebury at Williams 7 PM Saturday 2/9/13

Who: Middlebury College Panthers (10-8-2; 9-3-2) at Williams College Ephs (12-5-3;9-3-2)
Where: Lansing Chapman Rink  Williamstown, MA
When: 7 PM Saturday 2/9/13
Video/Audio: Teamline Video 

Offense: 3.40 G/GM scored (3rd in NESCAC; 25th in Nation)
Defense: 3.10 G/GM allowed (6th in NESCAC; 37th in Nation)
Power Play: 25/92 - 27.17% (2nd in NESCAC; 6th in Nation)
Penalty Kill: 65/83 - 78.3 % (6th in NESCAC; 47th in Nation)

Offense: 2.95 G/GM scored (5th in NESCAC; 39th in Nation)
Defense: 1.95 G/GM allowed (3rd in NESCAC; 8th in Nation)
Power Play: 11/67 -16.42 % (7th in NESCAC; 54th in Nation)
Penalty Kill: 59/68- 86.8% (2nd in NESCAC; 8th in Nation)

The Lowdown: Hockey...finally

After Nemo ravaged the east coast and left a string of disney themed puns in its wake, we are left with only one game standing from the normal ten game Friday/Saturday NESCAC schedule (for the revised schedule, see our Nemo page). But at least said game is a goodie; the front end of a home and home pits the number two team in the NESCAC vs...the number two team in the NESCAC. With catching Bowdoin being a rather difficult task and sixth place Wesleyan being a dangerous six, locking up the two spot will be important for both these teams come playoff time. 

Middlebury enters the game on a four game win streak, including two big wins over Wesleyan and Trinity last week to move into a tie for second. Williams backs into the two spot, having lost to Trinity and tied Wesleyan last weekend. In three games last week (including a 1-0 non conference win over Wentworth), the the Ephs had two goals on 108 shots.

Key(s) to the game: Eye on the Prize

With all the issues surrounding the storm and the re-scheduling of the NESCAC schedule, it would be easy to be a bit distracted in this game; but both teams need to bring their A game. For Williams, they come off a disappointing weekend of missed opportunities, scoring only one goal despite tying the Bantams in shots (36-36) and outshooting the Cardinals (46-26). For Middlebury, while they are streaking, they haven't played an opponent this strong on the road since a 7-1 loss at Plattsburgh.

Players to watch

Louis Belisle (F, Jr.) The junior from Repentigny, Quebec has scored in three of the last four games and scored his first ever NESCAC goal against Williams back in February 2011.

Peter Mistretta (F, So.) After a five goal scoring streak, the Ephs leading scorer (14-6-20) only has one goal (and point) in the last four games. Considering the next leading goal scorers on the team only have six tallies, it will be important for Mistretta to try and get back in the box score if the Ephs want to head up to Vermont victorious.

In what should be a pretty self explanatory choice for the song for this game, we present a live version of Snow Patrol's "What If This Storm Ends?," (complete with wind symphony and chorus backing)  from the BBC program "Later."