GENEVA, NY – The Utica College men’s hockey team lost to nationally-ranked No. 3/4 Hobart College 7-3 in ECAC West Conference action on the road Friday night. The Pioneers trailed by just one goal, 4-3, headed into the third period but the host Statesmen poured in three third period tallies to skate away with the four goal victory.
Utica’s Hayden Dawes (Stony Plain, Alberta/Drayton Valley (AJHL)), Brett Szajner (Novi, MI/Amarillo (NAHL)) and Joel Wetmore (Horseheads, NY/Lindsay (OJHL)) each registered one goal on the evening to pace the Pioneers. UC’s record moved to 9-7-3 overall and 3-4-2 in conference play while Hobart won its eighth straight game and improved to 15-2-2 overall and 8-1 in the ECAC West. The two teams will turn right back around on Saturday to complete the regular season series in Geneva, NY at 4 p.m.
Dawes helped the Pioneers respond from an early 1-0 deficit when he netted his ninth goal of the season at the 10:29 marker to make it a 1-1 contest midway through the first period. Junior captain Kevin Kirisits (Buffalo, NY/Brockville (CCHL)) assisted on the Pioneers’ first goal of the contest.
Just 1:28 later the home team took the lead back when Cam Shaheen netted his third goal of the season to give Hobart a 2-1 lead. The Pioneers tied it up with 2:43 left in the first period when sophomore defender Brett Szajner (Novi, MI/Amarillo (NAHL)) scored his second goal of the season to knot the score at 2-2. Kevin Valenti (Queensbury, NY/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) and Adam Moody (Newmarket, Ontario/Cowichan Valley (BCHL)) each registered an assist on the Pioneers final goal of the first period.
Hobart took a 3-2 lead into the second period after Mac Olson scored, unassisted, with 1:02 left in the opening stanza.
The Statesman worked a 4-2 lead through the second period until Utica senior Joel Wetmore (Horseheads, NY/Lindsay (OJHL)) found the back of the net, assisted by Vince Stefan (Pittsburgh, PA/Kenai River (NAHL)) at 17:42 of the second period, to make it a 4-3 game headed into the final period of play.
Ben Gamache netted two third period goals and Bobby Sokol added an empty netter to help the Statesmen pull away for the four goal victory.
Freshman Michael Fredrick (Lethbridge, Alberta/Brooks Bandits (AJHL)) stopped 28 shots in net for the Pioneers before being relieved by Cory Simic (Whitby, Ontario/Smith Falls (CCHL)) midway through the final period. Frank Oplinger stopped 25 shots in net for the Statesmen.
Two of Hobart’s three first period goals came on the power-play as they finished the night 2-for-5 with a man advantage. Hobart also outshot the Pioneers 42-28 on the evening as they improved to 2-0 against Utica in the regular season series.
