Hartford, Conn. - Junior forward Brandon Cole (Anchorage, Alaska) found the back of the net twice to lead the No. 7 ranked Trinity College Bantams past the Middlebury Panthers in a Saturday afternoon New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's hockey matchup at the Koeppel Center in Hartford. Trinity improves to 15-4-1 overall and 11-3-0 in conference play while Middlebury drops to 6-8-6 and 5-3-6 in NESCAC play.

Middlebury found themselves a man down early in the first period due to an elbowing call against Mark Lyman (Deephaven, Minn.) that gave Trinity a 5-4 advantage. Trinity senior Mike Hawkrigg (Toronto, Ontario) controlled the puck at the point and flipped a shot towards Panther goalie Liam Moorfield-Yee (Toronto, Ontario) who blocked the puck, however Bantam sophomore forward Anthony Sabitsky (Sicklerville, N.J.) controlled the rebound and flicked a wrist shot into the top corner of the net past Moorfield-Yee to give the hosts a 1-0 advantage 2:42 into the first period. Trinity out-shot Middlebury 16-2 in the opening period with the Bantams' second goal of the period coming via Cole's fifth goal of the season with less than four minutes remaining in the first, via an assist from junior defensemen T.J. Sherman (Chesterfield, Mo.). 

Middlebury answered in the second period on a power play as senior Terrance Goguen (Weston, Mass.) sent a shot off of Trinity goalie Alex Morin's (St. Hubert, Quebec) blocker that freshman Matt Doherty (Milton, Mass.) corralled and put past Morin to cut Trinity's lead to 2-1 with 6:56 to play in the second period. Cole, however, returned the favor with his second goal of the game that came with under a minute to play in the period as he got a clean look at the net off an assist from junior forward Ethan Holdaway (Glastonbury, Conn.) that he converted to put the Bantams up 3-1 as the teams entered the second intermission.

Sophomore forward Tyler Whitney (Wakefield, Mass.) extended Trinity's lead to three with 4:45 to play as he sent a shot past the out-stretched blocker of Moorfield-Yee to seal the 4-1 victory for the Bantams as Middlebury failed to generate many opportunities thanks to a stifling Trinity defense. Moorfield-Yee finished with 39 saves while Morin tallied 17 stops as the Bantams out-shot Middlebury 43-18 on the afternoon.

The Bantams return to the ice next weekend for a pair of games, at Colby on Saturday, February 13, and at Bowdoin on Sunday, February 14, before heading home for a home-away doubleheader against in-conference opponent Wesleyan to close out the regular season.