GENEVA, N.Y.—The No. 3 seed Hobart College hockey team jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period and never looked back as the Statesmen defeated No. 6 seed Stevenson 6-2 in an ECAC West first round game played tonight in The Cooler.
Hobart advances to the tournament semifinals where it will play at No. 2 seed Manhattanville on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. The top two teams in the conference earned byes to the semifinals. No. 1 Utica will face No. 5 Neumann in the other semifinal game on Saturday. The Knights upset No. 4 Nazareth 4-1 tonight in their first round game.
The Statesmen improve to 18-4-4 this season. The Mustangs finished their season with a 10-14-2 overall record.
Senior Nick Bingaman and sophomore Matt Pizzo each notched two assists in the win. Junior Ben Greiner posted a goal and an assist. Junior goaltender Frank Oplinger made 29 saves in 59:48 in goal for Hobart. Stevenson goalie Jacob Caffrey finished with 34 saves in all 60 minutes.
The Statesmen scored two goals in the opening 4:20 of the game. Junior Jordan Haskell fired a shot on goal that was saved, but the rebound bounced to junior Andrew Silard. Silard left the puck for Haskell to finish off at 2:43 in from right in front for his fifth goal of the season. Just under two minutes later, Sokol notched his 11th goal of the year. Pizzo drilled a shot wide, but Bingaman was there to collect the puck and dish to Sokol who made it 2-0.
Just after Hobart had killed off a Stevenson power-play attempt, Colton McMeniman put the Mustangs on the scoreboard. His shot from the right post bounced over Oplinger’s pads. Jake Lainesse and Tyler Slusarczyk earned the assists.
The Statesmen added two more goals in the second period to build a 4-1 lead. Sophomore Cam Shaheen logged his third goal in as many games at the 9:21 mark. The Mustangs turned over the puck at the top of their defensive zone, and Greiner was able to push the puck to Shaheen whose blast from just inside the blue line slid underneath the goalie’s pads. At 12:06 into the middle period, first-year Lawson MacDougall found the back of the net for his fifth goal this year. Pizzo and sophomore Tanner Shaw were credited with the assists.
Hobart piled on two more goals in the final 20 minutes. Just 1:59 in, Greiner carried the puck into Hobart’s offensive zone and lifted his shot from just inside the blue line into the top right corner to make it 5-1. It was his sixth goal this season. Just over five minutes later, first-year Julien Denicourt stretched the Statesmen lead to five. Bingaman won a faceoff at the left circle. Sokol got the puck and fired a shot on goal. His rebound bounced to Denicourt who registered his third goal this year.
With 1:23 to go, Mike Davis took advantage of a 5-on-3 situation, scoring a power-play goal for Stevenson after a pass from Evan Williams. The Mustangs finished 1-for-8 on the power play, while Hobart went 0-for-4.
The Statesmen held a 40-31 advantage in shots.
