Hartford, Conn.- The No. 5/11 Hobart College ice hockey team and No. 7/8 Trinity played to a 1-1 tie in a non-conference game at the Koeppel Community Sports Center this evening. The Statesmen are now 7-2-2 on the year while the defending national champion Bantams are 4-2-1.
The goaltenders stole the show for the first 40 minutes of tonight’s game. Senior Lino Chimienti turned aside 31 shots in the first two periods for Hobart, including two spectacular saves in the closing minutes of the second period. He made a tremendous stop on a one-timer opportunity from Trinity’s Samuel Johnson and then 30 seconds later made a leg pad save on Ryan Cole. On the other end of the ice, Nathaniel Heilbron made 26 saves through the opening 40 minutes.
The Statesmen jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 3:58 of the third period. Junior Bobby Sokol netted his second goal of the season to give Hobart the lead. Sokol fired the puck over Heilbron into the top half of the net. The Statesmen’s power-play goal was assisted by Nick Bingaman.
The Bantams answered back, scoring 4:16 later to tie the game at 1-1. Anthony Sabitsky picked up a loose puck in front of the goal and beat Chimienti five-hole. Griffyn Martin was credited with an assist on the goal.
The goalies continued to stand strong as neither team was able to break the tie. Hobart’s penalty kill was put to the test in the final two minutes of regulation but it collected three blocked shots as the Statesmen were able to force overtime.
Chimienti made two critical stops in the first 27 seconds of the extra session as the Statesmen killed off the remainder of the penalty. Hobart’s best opportunity of the extra session came off the stick of sophomore Tyler Wolf. Wolf wristed a point blank shot from just inside the left faceoff circle that Heilbron turned aside.
Chimienti stopped 45 shots, playing all 65 minutes for Hobart, while Heilbron turned aside 41 shots for Trinity.
The Statesmen went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Bantams went 0-for-4.
Hobart will close out the 2015 portion of its schedule tomorrow with a non-league contest against Wesleyan. Faceoff in Middletown, Conn. Is scheduled for 4 p.m.
