ELMIRA, N.Y. — Following the opening weekend of the 2018-19 ice hockey season, Soaring Eagle skaters Katie Granato ’19 of the nationally-ranked women’s team and Nick Ford ’20 of the men’s team have been crowned Elmira College Athletes of the Week.
Granato had a masterful performance for the No. 2/3 EC women’s ice hockey team on Saturday afternoon against the defending national champions from Norwich University. The fourth-year forward helped the Soaring Eagles knock-off No. 1 Norwich by a 4-2 final score by logging the third hat trick of her collegiate career.
The Naperville, Illinois, native needed little time before finding the back of the net for her first goal of the season. On Elmira’s first shift just 16 seconds into the contest, she ripped a shot from a tough angle from the right faceoff circle, giving the Soaring Eagles an early 1-0 lead. With the game tied at 2-all midway through the third period, Granato tallied back-to-back goals in 34 seconds, including a power-play goal, to give EC the lead for good.
It marks the second consecutive season that a Soaring Eagle has opened with a hat trick, as former AHCA First-Team All-American Sarah Hughson ’18 did so against Oswego State at the start of the 2017-18 campaign.
Granato and the Soaring Eagles will open United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) play this weekend when they head to Aston, Pennsylvania, for a two-game set against Neumann University. Action begins on Friday, November 2, at 7:00 p.m.
Ford, a reigning AHCA All-America Second-Teamer, began where he left off his sophomore season with three points (2g-1a) in a home-and-home series with No. 6/7-ranked Hobart College. His three points are tied for the team lead through the first weekend of competition, while both of his goals were scored on special teams.
In the season-opener on Friday at the Murray Athletic Center, Ford, a product of New Lenox, Illinois, netted a shorthanded goal, finding the top shelf following a takeaway at center ice. Seven-and-a-half minutes later, the third-year forward scored his second consecutive goal on the power play. In the second half of the non-conference series on Saturday in Geneva, New York, Ford teamed up with fellow first-line mates Connor Powell ’20 and Matthew Cuce ’20 for a third-period goal, earning his first assist of the year on the play.
Two games into the new season, Ford is tied for second in the UCHC in both points and goals, and was one of only three players in the conference to score shorthanded in the opening weekend.
Ford and the EC men’s ice hockey team will continue non-league play on Tuesday, October 30, when the Purple and Gold head north to face SUNY Potsdam in a 7:00 p.m. contest at the Maxcy Ice Arena.
