The Middlebury men’s hockey team is preparing to kick off the 2019-20 season. The Panthers finished 8-13-4 overall last season.

Head coach Neil Sinclair is entering his fifth year leading the Panthers on the ice.

The majority of the team is upperclassmen, which transitions to strong chemistry on the ice. Only four seniors left the program after the 2018-19 season.

The Panthers return five of seven leading scorers since last year.

One of the team captains Owen Powers spoke about the upcoming season and improvements to the roster.

“When I came here it was a very young team. We had to immediately rely on the freshman and sophomores, which is a great thing. But, now my class is finally in the position where we’ve really seen it all. It’s the first time we’ve had a large senior class, so it’s good to have those older guys you can rely on who have been in those situations” said Powers.

The Panthers will open up the 2019-20 campaign hosting Bowdoin Friday at 7 p.m.