With a good sheet of ice beneath them, the offense was able to demonstrate their prowess, however, they were met by a physical brand of hockey from the Bears.
Facing an uphill climb, Middlebury redoubled its efforts in the second and scored three times with captain Simmons having a hand in each.
In the middle of the period, Whittemore scored to cut the lead to one and then continued to pressure the home team for the rest of the match.
Near the end of regulation, Whittemore's third marker appeared to tie the game, however, the referee ruled that the Panthers had been offside and disallowed the goal.
The final score provided the club with its largest margin of victory but effectively served as more of a practice game than an actual contest.
Whittemore's pair in the second proved to be the deciding factor and even a surge from Army in the third could not overcome the Panther defenses.
Whittemore tallied twice, providing the only scoring in the match, to give the Panthers a leg up in the state championship series.
Clarkson protested that a penalty should have been assessed for rough play but the officials disagreed and allowed the goal to stand.
Past the midway point of the match, Whittemore broke away for a rare rush at the Clarkson net and fired a hard shot that surprised even the goal judge.
The Knights protested, believing his shot had entered the cage through a hole in the netting but both referees allowed the marker to stand and Middlebury skated away with possibly the biggest victory in program history.
It was only through the strong work of the defense that allowed the game to head into overtime where Middlebury was able to eke out a narrow victory.