Saturday, May 6, 2017

2016-17 Middlebury Panthers Year in Review

As we languish in the oblivion of the offseason, we will recap each team's season, as we are wont to do, from last to first. First up are the once mighty Panthers of Middlebury, who failed to make the NESCAC playoffs for the first time in program history. 


Stephen Klein hopes
his senior year will
be better than his junior campaign 
10. Middlebury
2015-16 Reccord

3-15-0 (10th in NESCAC)
3-19-2 Overall

Stats:
Overall (Conf. Rank)                                     Conference Games (Conf. Ranks)
Offense - 1.83 G/GM (10th                                                      Offense - 1.78 G/GM (10th)
Defense - 3.58 G/GM (9th)                                                       Defense - 3.67 G/GM (10th)
Power Play - 14/79 17.9% (7th)                                              Power Play - 9/54 16.4% (7th)
Penalty Kill - 93/121 77% (10th)                                              Penalty Kill - 71/93  76% (10th) 
Penalty Minutes - 12.9/Gm (2nd)                                             Penalty Minutes - 13.3/Gm (2nd) 


Season Review
Year two of the Neil Sinclair regime saw the Panthers take a precipitous drop from a less than auspicious inaugral season for the coach. Middlebury could only dream of the mediocrity of the 2015-16 campaign in 2016-17 as the Panthers fell from fifth to last in the NESCAC standings.

The Panthers put up the worst win-loss percentage of any season for a program that began under the short Warren G Harding presidency in the 1920s. They also, however, featured a rookie laden lineup with all ten freshman on the roster receiving significant action and only two seniors (Andrew Neary and All-NESCAC soccer player Greg Conrad) lacin them up. Trevor Turnbull, one of said frosh, finished second on the team with 12 points (5-7-12).

The Panthers had problems in all facets of the game, finishing last in the conference in both scoring categories and  at or near the bottom in all special team categories, as well as outshooting opponents in only two contests all season.   In net, junior Stephen Klein received the bulk of the minutes as he did in his first two seasons in Vermont. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan native finished last in GAA at 3.44 and 11th of 14 in save percentage (.907) for qualified goaltenders.

The Panthers had a typical tough non-conference schedule with two dates each against perenial powerhouse Plattsburgh and eventual national champion Norwich, who took out Hamilton in the NCAA Quarterfinals and Trinity in the natty title. The Panthers played their Green Mountain rivals quite tightly, losing by only one goal in November at the Primelink and tying the Cadets 2-2 at Middlebury in January. In 31 games, Norwich only didn't win four with a 27-1-3 record.

High Point
There are very few high points in a season which features a winning percentage similar to the batting average of an MLB pitcher, but we forced this construct on you, so we will choose one. The three Panther wins on the season all came within a four game span  in late January/early February.

Middlebury finally broke into the W column in the sixteenth game of the season. By that point they had gone 0-13-2 and had already lost as many games in an entire season since 1987-88 - the second Reagan administration  - when they lost 16 games. The Panthers buckled down at home against Bowdoin and two juniors stepped up, Klein with 32 saves and Vincent Gissonti with two tallies to deliver the 5-1 victory.

After losing at Conn College to startoff the next weekend (Conn College's only two conference wins in the past two seasons were the season sweep of Middlebury), Stephen Klein had one of the best performance of his career, stopping 41 shots for a 1-0 shutout of Tufts. They then returned home for another 1-0 victory this time over Wesleyan. The Panthers sat just four games out of a NESCAC playoff spot with five to play...

Low Point 
...but then the Trinity game happen. The Panthers then recent defensive prowess (four goals allowed total in four games) - went by the wayside and the Bantams throttled Middlebury 11-3. The Panthers finished out the season with four more loses, including totally losing their cool in the penultum game of the season against Hamilton when the Panthers got whistled for 54 penalty minutes and gave up fourteen power plays to the Continentals.

MVP
Vincent Gissonti (F, '18) The junior from Montreal reached double digit goals (10-3-13) for the first time in his career and became the first Panther to do so since the 2014-15 season.

It's been over a decade since the last of Middlebury's eight national titles, but they had never before missed the NESCAC playoffs, let alone finished in last place. 

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