The No. 9 Hobart College hockey team battled No. 14 Neumann to 4-4 overtime tie in an ECAC West game played tonight at The Cooler. The Statesmen are now 1-0-1 and the Knights are 0-1-1.
The Statesmen jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two goals in the first period. Just 4:34 in, junior Robert Sovik (Prague, Czech Republic) notched his first goal of the season. He one-timed a feed from behind the net from sophomore Ben Gamache (Longlac, Ontario). At 13:04 in the first, junior Tommaso Traversa (Torino, Italy) gave Hobart a 2-0 edge. Junior Brendan Fitzgerald (Pembroke, Mass.) pushed a pass to senior Tommy Fiorentino (New Hartford, N.Y.), who fired a shot on goal. It was saved, but Traversa was there to send home the rebound. It was Traversa’s first goal this year.
The Knights came out strong in the second half and produced two goals to tie things up. Just 1:41 in, Shayne Morrissey carried the puck into the zone and placed a shot just over Hobart goalie sophomore Lino Chimienti’s (Montreal, Quebec) shoulder. Brandon Gagne knotted up the game 11:03 into the middle period. His goal came immediately off a faceoff win.
The Statesmen controlled the play in the third period, out-shooting Neumann 20-3, but they could not find the go-ahead goal through the final 20-minute period. Hobart also remained on offense for the majority of the overtime notching a 4-0 advantage in shots, but the Statesmen still could not find the back of the net, and the game ended in a tie.
Hobart finished with a 47-24 advantage in shots. The Statesmen went 0-6 on the power-play and killed off all five of the Knights’ power-play attempts. Chimienti finished with 22 saves in all 60 minutes in goal for Hobart. Braely Torris played all 60 minutes in goal for Neumann and made 45 saves.
The Statesmen will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 8, when they travel to Nazareth for another ECAC West game at 7 p.m.
