Middlebury, Vt. – Senior tri-captain Jackson Brewer (Newton, Mass.) scored the game-winning just 47 seconds into overtime to lead the visiting Trinity College men's hockey team past Middlebury, 2-1, on Friday night in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) action inside Kenyon Arena. With the win, the No. 4 ranked Bantams complete the regular season series sweep of the Panthers to improve 16-2-1 overall and 11-1-1 in league play, while the hosts moved to 7-9-3 on the year and 4-6-3 in conference tilts.

Trinity scored on the only shot of overtime as senior tri-captain Michael Flynn (Cheshire, Conn.) streaked up the left side of the ice and saw his shot saved by Middlebury netminder Stephen Klein before Brewer buried the rebound into an open net.

The Panthers did something most teams have not this season, as they outshout the Bantams, 34-15. A big reason the visitors remained atop the NESCAC standings was the play of junior goaltender Nathaniel Heilbron (West Vancouver, British Columbia) who turned aside 33 shots to earn his 12th victory of the season for Trinity. On the opposite end, Klein made 13 saves in a losing effort for Middlebury.

The first period looked as though it would go into the books scoreless until Trinity found the back of the net with 50 seconds on the clock. Senior forward Conor Coveney (Hingham, mass.) was behind the net with the puck and he found linemate Elie Vered (Ottawa, Ontario) at the top of the circle, who wristed it past Klein.

The two league foes traded chances in the second period, with Klein making a big stop on Trinity senior forward Tim Shea (Somerset, Mass.) at the 7:10 mark. Middlebury responded when Evan Neugold intercepted a pass and broke in, but his shot was turned aside by Heilbron. Trinity had another chance at the 12:10 mark, but Coveney's bid for a goal went just wide. The best chance to score in the period came late when Middlebury's Brendan McGovern took a pass from Max Greenwald and fired a wrist shot from the left side that hit the post. The period ended with Middlebury holding an 11-7 shots advantage and Trinity clinging to a 1-0 lead.

Action picked up in the third period as the Panthers put lots of pressure on Heilbron, outshooting the Bantams 18-2 in the stanza. David Belluche pinged the pipe with a power-play slap shot just 2:10 into the period. The Panthers had another good look just over 11 minutes in when Greenwald's shot was saved in transition before McGovern's attempt just missed the crossbar.

Late in the contest, the Panthers pulled Klein and tied the game with just 14 seconds remaining in regulation. Ronald Fishman's shot from the right point was saved before Neugold gathered the rebound and circled the net to score on a wrap-around to knot the game at 1-1.

Trinity concludes a road NESCAC weekend of action tomorrow, Feb. 7, with a game versus No. 12 Williams at 3:00 p.m.

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