GENEVA, N.Y.—The Elmira College men’s hockey team rallied, scoring three third period goals, to capture a 5-3 win over Hobart College in an ECAC West game played tonight at The Cooler. With the loss in their final home game of the regular season, the Statesmen fall to 11-6-4 overall and 5-3-3 in the ECAC West.
The Soaring Eagles improve to 13-8-0 and 8-3-0 in the conference. Jarryd ten Vaanholt posted two goals and an assist for Elmira and Josh Burnell added a goal and two assists. Greg Whittle chipped in a goal and an assist. Ryan de Melo played all 60 minutes in goal and made 44 saves for the Soaring Eagles.
Three different players scored for Hobart. Sophomore Lino Chimienti (Montreal, Quebec)played 58:05 in goal and made 27 saves.
The first period saw each team score twice. Just 3:19 in, Elmira took advantage of a power play to take a 1-0 lead. ten Vaanholt scored his ninth goal this season off passes from Tommy Summi and Burnell. At 13:46 Hobart answered. First-year Carl Belizario (Dorval, Quebec) notched his fifth goal of the season to make it 1-1. Classmate Mitch Beyer (Clifton Park, N.Y.) blasted a shot on goal that was blocked, he collected the rebound and dished to Belizario whose shot banged off the inside of the right post and in.
Just under a minute later, the Statesmen took a 2-1 lead on a shorthanded tally by seniorTommy Fiorentino (New Hartford, N.Y.). Junior Peter Ryan (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)earned the assist. With 4: 41 left in the first, the Soaring Eagles tied things up again with another power-play goal. This time it came from Burnell off a pass from Eric David.
Hobart took back the lead with just 49 seconds remaining in the second. Sophomore Mac Olson (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) found the back of the net on a Statesmen power-play after passes from sophomores Ben Gamache (Longlac, Ontario) and Bo Webster (Aurora, Ontario). Olson leads Hobart with 12 goals this season.
The Statesmen had a chance to score 3:33 into the final period. While on a power play, Webster drilled a shot square off the right post. The rest of the period was all Elmira. At11:29, Whittle found the back of the net for the fifth time this season to tie the game up at 3-3. Michael Collins and ten Vaanholt were credited with the assists. Just 25 seconds later, ten Vaanholt logged his second goal of the night off a pass from Whittle to give the Soaring Eagles a 4-3 advantage. Eddie Nolan added to the lead at 16:55. His fourth goal this season came shortly after an Elmira faceoff win. Burnell and Dylan Herold earned assists on the play.
Hobart pulled its goalie with 1:55 remaining for the extra skater, but were unable to capitalize. The Statesmen finished with a 47-32 advantage in shots and went 1-for-7 on the power play. Elmira finished 2-for-6 on the power play.
In the league, Utica now sits in first, picking up two wins over Neumann this weekend. The Pioneers have 17 points. Elmira is in second with 16 points and Hobart falls to third place with 13.
The Statesmen will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 14, when they travel to take on Neumann in an ECAC West game at 7 p.m.
