The Hobart College hockey team took a 2-1 lead in the first period and held on to defeat sixth-seeded Nazareth College by that score in an ECAC West quarterfinal played tonight at The Cooler. The No. 3 seed Statesmen improve to 14-8-1 overall and advance to the semifinals.
Hobart will face No. 2 seeded Elmira in a semifinal game at the Soaring Eagles’ Murray Athletic Center on Saturday, March 1, at 7 p.m. It will be the third time in nine days that Elmira and Hobart will face off.
It was the fourth meeting between the Statesmen and the Golden Flyers this season. Hobart finishes the year with a 2-1-1 advantage in those meetings. Nazareth finished its season with an 8-16-2 overall record.
Five different Statesmen earned a point in the win. Sophomore goalie Lino Chimienti (Montreal, Quebec) topped his career-high in saves set in last Saturday’s win over Elmira, turning aside 45 shots in all 60 minutes in goal tonight.
The Statesmen jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 34 seconds into the first period. Junior Ian Coleman sent a pass ahead to classmate Tommaso Traversa (Torino, Italy) who was streaking in. Traversa laid out to tip a pass to senior Tommy Fiorentino (New Hartford, N.Y.) who slid his shot underneath Nazareth’s goalie, Ed Zdolshek. It was Fiorentino’s eighth tally this year. First-year Nick Bingaman (Bedford, N.Y.) made it 2-0 with 1:07 left in the opening period. After a Golden Flyers turnover at center ice, junior Ryan Michel (Camillus, N.Y.) sent a pass to Bingaman who had a one-on-one with Zdolshek and lifted a shot over his shoulder. It was Bingaman’s sixth goal this year and proved to be the game-winning goal.
Don Oliveri put Nazareth on the scoreboard with just nine seconds left in the first. Chris Murray won a faceoff for the Golden Flyers in their offensive end and Oliveri collected the puck and immediately fired into the top right corner of the goal.
The second and third periods proved scoreless. The Golden Flyers controlled a lot of the momentum in the middle period out-shooting the Statesmen 21-13, but the Hobart defense held strong. Nazareth also held a 13-8 edge in shots in the third period. It seemed the Golden Flyers may have scored the game-tying goal with 6:18 left in the third, but it was called off because a rebound was kicked across the line by one of the Nazareth players. With just over five minutes remaining, Oliveri came inches away from scoring again as he blasted a shot off the right post.
The Statesmen penalty kill unit came through in a big way, killing all five Nazareth power plays, including one with 3:23 to go in the final period. The Golden Flyers pulled Zdolshek twice in the final minutes, but were unable to capitalize with the extra skater. Zdolshek finished with 32 saves in 59:10 in goal for Nazareth.
Nazareth finished with a 46-34 edge in total shots. The Statesmen went 0-for-2 on the power play.
