The Hobart College hockey team moved up two spots to No. 9 in this week’s D3hockey.com poll. The Statesmen also moved up one spot to No. 12 in this week’s USCHO.com poll.
Hobart improved to 20-6-0 overall this year, with its ninth straight victory on Saturday night. The Statesmen downed Elmira 5-1 in an ECAC West tournament semifinal in The Cooler to earn a spot in the tournament’s championship game. Hobart will host No. 2 seed Neumann in the championship game on Saturday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. in The Cooler.
The Statesmen rank 11th in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 3.92 goals per game. Hobart is 21st in Division III in scoring defense, allowing an average of 2.42 goals per game. The Statesmen are 13th in the country on the power play (24.1 percent) and tied for 10th in team winning percentage (.769). Hobart’s nine game unbeaten streak is tied for second longest in the country. Only one team, Adrian, currently has a longer unbeaten streak of 10 games.
Junior forward Bo Webster (Aurora, Ontario) leads the Statesmen with 24 points on eight goals and 16 assists. Senior forward Brad McBride (Lone Tree, Colo.) has produced a team-high 13 goals and added eight assists. Senior forward Tommaso Traversa (Torino, Italy) has also posted 21 points on 12 goals and nine assists. First-year goaltender Frank Oplinger (Sewickley, Pa.) has played the majority of minutes between the pipes for Hobart. He’s sixth in the nation in save percentage (.937) and win percentage (.867) and 14th in the country in goals against average (1.93).
Neumann comes to Geneva with a 14-8-4 overall record, and is coming off an 8-4 ECAC West tournament semifinal victory over No. 3 seed Nazareth. Shayne Morrissey leads the team with 24 points on eight goals and 16 assists. Mike Davis has logged a team-high 13 goals and added seven assists for 20 points. Ben Curley has played the majority of minutes in goal and is sporting a .912 save percentage, a 2.70 goals against average and an 11-7-3 record in goal.
Fans unable to make it to The Cooler can follow the action online with Live Stats<http://campus.hws.edu/athletics/hobart/hockey/live/xlive.htm> and All-Access Video<https://webmail.hws.edu/owa/hwsathletics.com/watch>. The game will also be broadcast live on WHWS-FM (105.7 in Geneva).
