GENEVA, N.Y.—The No. 11/13 Hobart College hockey team notched its second straight shutout, topping the University of Southern Maine 4-0 in an NEHC game this evening in The Cooler.
Sophomore Alexander Connal stopped all 16 shots he faced today to earn his second career shutout. Connal has now played 155:07, spanning the last three games, without allowing a goal.
The Statesmen improve to 12-5-4 overall and 9-3-2 in conference action. The Huskies fall to 3-13-4 overall and 3-8-3 in the NEHC. It’s Hobart’s fourth straight win. It’s also the first time Hobart has logged back-to-back shutouts since the Statesmen blanked Manhattanville 1-0 on Feb. 13, 2015, and 3-0 on Feb. 14, 2015. Senior Frank Oplinger earned those shutouts against the Valiants.
First-year T.J. Shultz led Hobart with a goal and an assist. Four different Statesmen scored and nine earned a point in today’s win.
Just 34 seconds into the game, senior Andrew Silard scored his second goal of the season. First-year Kyle Lynch passed to senior Jordan Haskell in the left corner. Haskell found Silard in the left circle, and Silard slid his shot into the back of the net to give Hobart a 1-0 lead.
The Statesmen added two more goals in the second period. At 6:52, Schultz recorded his first collegiate goal with a shorthanded tally. After a faceoff win by sophomore Zach Sternbach, Schultz collected the puck at the blue line and blasted his shot into the netting to make it 2-0. With 1:46 left in the second period, it was first-year Phil Satin’s turn to score his first collegiate goal. Senior Vincent Russo got the puck from the left corner to senior Ben Greiner. Russo’s pass went off the USM goalie who had come out to play the puck and Satin caught the goalie out of position to extend Hobart’s advantage to 3-0.
With 5:45 left in the game, junior Jonas Toupal took a pass from Schultz in the defensive zone and carried the puck all the way into the offensive zone before scoring his team-leading 13th goal this year.
The Statesmen finished with a 36-16 advantage in shots. Hobart went 0-for-6 on the power play and killed all five of the Huskies power-play chances. Anthony D’Aloisio played all 60 minutes in goal for Southern Maine and made 32 saves.
The Statesmen are back in action on Friday, Feb. 2, when they host Babson for an NEHC game at 7 p.m. in The Cooler.
