Hamilton College was shut out 6-0 by the Middlebury College Panthers in the Continentals' final game of the regular season on Saturday at Middlebury's Chip Kenyon Arena.

Despite the loss, the Continentals (11-9-4, 10-6-2 NESCAC) end the season in third place in the NESCAC and they own the third seed and home-ice advantage in next Saturday's 2020 NESCAC Men's Hockey Championship quarterfinals. Hamilton will play No. 6 seed Bowdoin College at 4 p.m.

Middlebury (10-11-3, 8-7-3) finished in fourth place and as the fourth seed will host No. 5 seed Wesleyan University in another quarterfinal next Saturday.

The Panthers scored three goals in the first eight minutes of the first period. Mitchell Allen scored on the game's first power play at 4:37 when he knocked in a rebound of a shot by Antoine Belisle after a feed from Owen Powers.

Conor Breen scored the second goal at 6:43 on assists from Allen and Powers. Powers scored a short-handed goal at 7:59 on a breakaway opportunity after Breen intercepted a pass in the Continentals' defensive zone.

The Continentals nearly got on the scoreboard with 8:38 left in the period. Nick Ursitti '20 seemed to knock in a rebound of a Tommy Tanner '23 shot, but Middlebury goaltender Brian Ketchabaw's stick caught the puck as it crossed the goal line. Despite the goal light flashing and a lot of discussion with Hamilton Head Coach Rob Haberbusch, the goal was called off. Haberbusch picked up his 100th win with the Continentals on Friday night at Williams.

Middlebury increased its lead to four goals just 33 seconds into the second period when Paddy Bogart knocked in the rebound of a shot by Belisle. The Panthers scored two more goals in the third period. Alex Heinritz scored the first on the power play with 7:31 remaining on a rebound of his own shot. Danny Tighe scored with 4:44 to go from in front of the net after Cole Joslin fed him the puck.

Hamilton had the advantage in power-play time as Middlebury received 17 minutes on seven penalties and the Continentals received 12 minutes on six penalties. The Panthers went 2-for-5 on the power play and killed all six of Hamilton's chances.

The Continentals held a 29-20 shot advantage. Ketchabaw made 29 saves while Hamilton's Anthony Tirabassi '20 stopped 14 shots. Cade Groton '23 won 11 of 14 faceoffs.

-- Recap by Amanda Ghiloni '22