The Hobart College hockey team earned its fourth straight victory with a 5-2 win over Salve Regina in a non-league game played tonight at the Seahawks’ Portsmouth Abbey. First-year Carl Belizario (Dorval, Quebec) led the Statesmen with three assists.
Hobart improves to 6-4-4 overall. Junior Bronson Kovacs (Sault Ste Marie, Ontario) added two goals and sophomore Ben Gamache (Longlac, Ontario) chipped in a goal and an assist. Sophomore Lino Chimienti (Montreal, Quebec) played all 60 minutes in goal and stopped 21 shots. Salve Regina is now 6-8 overall.
The Statesmen jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on two power-play goals. Twelve minutes in, Gamache found the back of the net after a pass from Belizario. It was his fourth goal this season. Just over four minutes later, sophomore Bo Webster (Aurora, Ontario) notched his fourth goal this year. Belizario and junior Ryan Michel (Camilus, N.Y.) earned the assists.
Trace Redmond scored the lone goal of the second period 6:09 in to put the Seahawks on the board. Michael Naso and Chad Hollenshade were credited with the assists.
Just 1:18 into the third period, Peter Gintoli logged an unassisted tally to tie the game up at 2-2 for Salve Regina. However, Hobart rallied to take back control of the game, notching three more goals in the final period. At 2:35, Kovacs produced his first goal of the night on a power play after passes from junior Ian Coleman (Northport, N.Y.) and Gamache. At 12:54, Kovacs struck again on a power play. This time Belizario set up the goal. Kovacs has produced three goals this year.
The Statesmen defense held strong in the final minutes not allowing a rally by the Seahawks despite the fact that they pulled their goalie for an extra skater. Instead, sophomore Mac Olson (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) capped the victory with an empty net goal with three seconds remaining. Olson has tallied a team-high six goals this year.
The Statesmen finished with a 38-23 advantage in shots. Hobart finished 4-for-9 on the power play and killed off all four of the Seahawks power play opportunities. Jake Williams played 57:11 in goal for Salve Regina and finished with 33 saves.
The Statesmen will be back in action on Friday, January 18, when they travel to face off with Cortland at 7 p.m.
