The Hobart College hockey team was tripped up 4-3 in an ECAC West game played tonight in Pine Valley, N.Y. It was the Statesmen’s first loss in conference play and snapped a five-game win streak.
Hobart is now 5-2-1 and 5-1-0 in ECAC West play. The Soaring Eagles improve to 2-4-0 both overall and in conference play.
The Soaring Eagles jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period. Elmira scored the first two goals of the game in a span of under two minutes. Just 3:36 in Brent Lafayette scored off an assist from Michael Collins. At 5:06 Carter Shinkaruk made it 2-0. Greg Whittle was credited with the assist. With eight minutes left in the first period, senior Ben Gamache (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) put Hobart on the board. Classmate Brad Robbins (Murrieta, Calif.) set up the play. With 4:50 on the clock, Blake O’Neill gave Elmira a 3-1 advantage. Whittle and Jonathan Grassie were credited with the assists.
Sophomore Frank Oplinger (Sewickley, Pa.) played the first period in goal for Hobart and made three saves. Senior Lino Chimienti (Montreal, Quebec) came in for the last two periods. He played 39:36 and stopped all 26 shots he faced.
Just 3:08 into the second period, first-year Cam Shaheen (North Andover, Mass.) notched his first collegiate goal to cut the Hobart deficit to one. Junior Connor Simon (Manchester, N.H.) earned the assist.
With 1:09 remaining in regulation, Hobart pulled its goalie for an extra skater. Instead eight seconds later, Brian Depp scored an empty net goal, give Elmira a 4-2 lead. The Statesmen pulled Chimienti again with 26 seconds left, and this time sophomore Andrew Silard (Greenwich, Conn.) got the Statesmen back within one goal with 35 seconds on the clock. However that was as close as the Statesmen could get. Junior Mitch Beyer (Clifton Park, N.Y.) earned the assist on Hobart’s final goal.
The Statesmen finished with a 44-33 advantage in shots. Hobart went 0-for-5 on the power play, but killed off all three of Elmira’s power-play attempts.
The Statesmen will be back in action on Friday, Dec. 4, when they host Skidmore for a non-league game at The Cooler at 7:30 p.m.
