Statesmen win 8th straight, down Valiants 5-1
The Hobart College hockey team notched their eighth straight victory with a 5-1 win over Manhattanville in an ECAC West game played tonight in the Valiants’ Terry Connors Rink in Stamford, Conn. Sophomore Ben Gamache (Longlac, Ontario) produced two goals and an assist, and junior Terrence O’Neill (Kearny, N.J.) logged three assists in the win.
The Statesmen improve to 10-4-4 overall and 4-1-3 in the conference. Hobart posted its third victory over Manhattanville this season, defeating the Valiants 4-3 last night and 5-0 in their season opener back on Nov. 1, 2013. Manhattanville falls to 10-8-0 overall and 3-5-0 in the ECAC West.
The Statesmen finished with a 31-14 advantage in shots. Junior Bronson Kovacs (Sault Ste Marie, Ontario) earned two assists and sophomore goalie Lino Chimienti (Montreal, Quebec) played all 60 minutes and stopped 13 of the 14 shots he faced.
Hobart jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and all three of the goals came on special teams. At 10:10, Gamache logged his first goal of the night on a Statesmen power play. It came off assists from Kovacs and O’Neill. At 16:18, sophomore Mac Olson (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) registered a shorthanded tally. Olson leads Hobart with 10 goals this year. Gamache and junior Ian Coleman (Northport, N.Y.) were credited with the assists. With 1:07 left in the opening period, first-year Nick Bingaman (Bedford, N.Y.) added a power-play goal after passes from O’Neill and junior Robert Sovik (Prague, Czech Republic). It was Bingaman’s fifth goal this season.
After a scoreless second period, Luc Van Natter capitalized on a power-play to get the Valiants on the scoreboard just 4:04 into the third. Jake Mooney and Craig Simchuk set up the play. However, Hobart answered with two goals in a span of 45 seconds to stretch their lead to 5-1. At 9:42, Gamache found the back of the net for the second time. Once again, Gamache’s goal came on a power play and again after passes from Kovacs and O’Neill. It was his seventh goal this winter. At 10:27, junior Brad McBride scored his fifth goal of the year for the final margin.
The Statesmen went 3-for-7 on the power play and Manhattanville finished 1-for-7. Alex Scola played all 60 minutes in goal for the Valiants and made 26 saves.
Hobart will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 31, when it hosts Nazareth for an ECAC West game in The Cooler at 7 p.m. The Statesmen and the Golden Flyers will then meet again on Saturday, Feb. 1, in The Cooler at 4 p.m.
