Hartford, Conn. – The No. 10 Trinity College men's hockey team defeated Middlebury, 3-1, on Friday night in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action inside the Koeppel Community Sports Center on Williams Rink. The victory was the fifth straight for the Bantams who improved to 9-1-1 overall and 4-0-1 in league play, while the Panthers dropped their second in a row to move to 3-6-2 on the year and 2-3-2 in conference tilts.

With Trinity clinging to a 1-0 cushion late in the second period and skating with a two-man advantage, junior forward Michael Hawkrigg (Toronto, Ontario) fired a slap shot from the point that beat Middlebury netminder Stephen Klein over his left shoulder. The man-up marker was assisted by sophomore Ryan Cole (Anchorage, Alaska) and junior Jackson Brewer (Newton, Mass.) and proved to be the eventual game winner.

Trailing by two in the third stanza, the Panthers came out buzzing with several scoring opportunities early. Junior forward Evan Neugold helped the visitors breakthrough and get on the board with just over nine and a half minutes left in the game. Neugold pulled Middlebury within one as he collected the puck behind the net and fired a shot that went through the five hole of Trinity junior goaltender Nathaniel Heilbron (W. Vancouver, British Columbia).

Three and a half minutes later, Trinity senior tri-captain Michael Flynn (Cheshire, Conn.) gave the hosts a little breathing room with his first tally of the season on a blast from the point. On the man advantage, Brewer played the puck across to junior Ben Hjalmarsson (Stockholm, Sweeden) who found Flynn for the insurance goal.

Down the stretch, Middlebury pulled Klein, but Heilbron stood his ground to help Trinity earn pivotal points in conference play.

Bantams first-year Anthony Sabitsky (Sicklerville, N.J.) opened the scoring with his fifth marker of the year a little over 14 minutes into the game. Sabitsky's linemates, senior Liam McKillop (New York, N.Y.) and senior Conor Coveney (Hingham, Mass.), did a nice job winning the puck in the corner and setting the play to earn the assists.

Heilbron stopped 20 shots to earn his sixth win of the season for Trinity, while Klein made 34 saves in a losing effort for Middlebury.

The Bantams held a 37-21 advantage in shots and they converted on 2-of-6 power play opportunities, while the Panthers went 0-for-2 for the extra skater.

Trinity wraps up a weekend of home NESCAC action on Saturday, Jan. 10, with a clash against No. 12 Williams at 4:00 p.m.