AMHERST, MA - The Amherst College men's hockey team skated to a 1-1 tie against visiting NESCAC foe Middlebury College Saturday at Orr Rink. With the tie, the Jeffs move to 6-11-3 overall and 6-7-2 in conference play, while the third-ranked Panthers go to 16-3-1 and 13-1-1.

The visitors capitalized on an early 5-on-3 power play to take a 1-0 lead. Rookie forward Tim Schneider (Trochu, Alberta) slid a cross-ice pass to junior forward Kevin Cooper (Mississauga, Ontario), who then chipped the puck into the open side of the net. The Jeffs played stellar defense the rest of the way. Sophomore Nick Harper (Rochester, MN), junior John McNicholas (Lake Forest, IL) and senior Erik DiNardo (North Reading, MA) broke up a slew of Panther plays for the hosts.

Amherst pierced the scoring column 6:31 into the second when sophomore forward Scott Aldrich (Wilmington, MA) ripped a rocket from the point that was redirected in by rookie Ted Bickel (Minnetonka, MN) to round the scoring out at 1-1. The contest was filled with penalties and things continued to heat up in the third as five infractions, including a 10-minute misconduct, were handed-out early in the stanza. The Jeffs controlled the majority of overtime as both teams had legitimate scoring opportunities. First-year goalie Sean Lynch (Essex Junction, VT) notched 22 saves while Middlebury junior netminder Marc Scheuer (Pt. Claire, Quebec) finished with 19.

Amherst returns to action Friday at 7:30 p.m. at league rival Connecticut College.