CLINTON, N.Y. – Hamilton College's Noah Leibl '27 scored a wraparound goal 7:45 into the second sudden-victory overtime period and lifted the Continentals to a 3-2 win against the Middlebury College Panthers in a 2025 NESCAC Men's Hockey Championship semifinal inside Hamilton's Russell Sage Rink on Saturday afternoon, March 8.
 

Season Update

• The eighth-ranked Continentals (19-6-1 overall) are the No. 1 seed for the championship. Hamilton won for the fourth time in its last five games.
• Middlebury (13-12-1) is the seventh seed for the championship. The Panthers defeated the Continentals 4-2 in their regular season finale and shut out No. 2 seed Trinity College 1-0 in the NESCAC championship quarterfinals.

 

Next Game

• Hamilton plays No. 5 seed Tufts University in the championship final at Sage Rink on Sunday, March 9 at 2 p.m.
• Tufts (12-12-1) scored four goals in the third period and posted a 6-2 victory against Colby College in Saturday's second semifinal at Sage Rink. The Jumbos extended their win streak to three games.
• The Continentals breezed to a 6-1 win at Tufts on Jan. 17, but the Jumbos edged Hamilton 2-1 in Clinton on Feb. 14.
• Tufts' Max Resnick leads the conference with four game-winning goals.
• The NESCAC will crown a new champion as neither the Continentals nor the Jumbos have won the title. Hamilton lost in the 2017 final – the only other time the Continentals hosted championship weekend. Tufts is in the final for the second straight year. The Jumbos lost 4-0 to Trinity in 2024.
• Tufts is 34^th in the NCAA Power Index (NPI) rankings as of March 8. Hamilton is ninth in the NPI rankings.

 

How It Happened

• The Continentals dominated the overtime periods as they held an 18-2 shot advantage. Leibl ended it on a fantastic individual effort. He gained possession of the puck behind the net and skated out into the left faceoff circle where he took a wrist shot that was stopped. Leibl found the rebound, skated behind the net again and scored on a wraparound shot that he tucked inside the right post. The goal touched off a wild celebration in the right corner.
• Hamilton took a 1-0 lead 10:06 into the first period. Jackson Krock '26 won an offensive zone faceoff back to James Philpott '25 and his wrist shot from the blue line above the left faceoff circle found its way through a screen into the back of the net.
• Wyatt Pastor drew Middlebury even with 3:37 left in the first.
• Ben Zimmerman '26 put the Continentals back on top with 7:31 remaining in the second period. Ryan Sordillo '27 passed the puck off the right-side boards and Zimmerman picked it up in the neutral zone. He skated down the right side and cut towards the middle along the goal line. Zimmerman faked a move towards the low slot and instead went behind the net and tucked a wraparound shot around the left post.
• Pastor tied the score again with 7:27 to go in the third period.
• The Panthers' Dante Palombo nearly ended the game about 90 seconds into the first extra period, but Charlie Archer '25 made an amazing save with his right pad on Palombo's redirect from the low slot.

 

Notes

• Leibl, who was on the fourth line, has a goal in both postseason games this year and five this season.
• Philpott has a point in each of the last three games and four goals this season.
• Zimmerman potted his fourth goal.
• Krock picked up his 14^th assist and is second in the conference with 28 points. He won 19-of-34 faceoffs.
• Justin Biraben '27 (assist) has registered a point in six of the last seven games.
• Max Bulawka '26 won 15-of-27 faceoffs as Hamilton won 51-of-93 as a team.
• John Wojciechowski '28 led the defense with four blocked shots.
• Archer made 14 of his 29 saves in the second period.
• Jack Silverman contributed two assists for Middlebury.
• Andrew Heinze turned away 50 shots for the Panthers.
• The Continentals were 0-for-4 on the power play but had 15 shots on goal.
• Hamilton was 0-8 against Middlebury in the NESCAC championship entering today.