The No. 8/10 Hobart College hockey team earned its third straight win, defeating New England College 5-2 in an NEHC game played today in Henniker, N.H. The Statesmen improved to 3-1-0 overall and 2-0-0 in conference play.
The Pilgrims are now 2-2-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the NEHC. Junior Matt Pizzo led Hobart with two goals. Senior Jordan Haskell notched two assists. Senior Ben Greiner recorded a goal and an assist. Sophomore Alexander Connal played all 60 minutes in goal for the Statesmen and made 22 saves.
Greiner opened the scoring for Hobart 5:24 into the game off an assist from Haskell. NEC tied things up at 10:46 on a power-play goal by Mike Whitehair. Bryce Nielsen and Ryan Walsh were credited with the assists. With seven seconds left in the opening period, Pizzo notched a power-play goal for the Statesmen to give them a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission. Sophomore Will Harrison and senior Vincent Russo earned the assists.
At 5:11 into the second, junior Tanner Shaw added another power-play goal to extend the Hobart lead to 3-1. Junior Cam Shaheen registered the assist. Sophomore Colin Merrill scored his first goal of the season with 1:24 left in the second after passes from Greiner and Haskell.
Andreas Zollner scored on a Pilgrim power play 6:04 into the third period to cut New England College’s deficit to two. Adam Zollner and Connor Fries had the assists. With 4:27 left in regulation, Pizzo produced his second goal of the day off assists from Haskell and Harrison for the final score.
Kyle Shapiro played the first 39:58 in goal for the Pilgrims and made 22 saves. Christoffer Sjoo came in for the final 20 minutes and made eight saves.
The Statesmen finished with a 35-24 advantage in shots. Hobart went 2-for-4 on the power play and NEC finished 2-for-5.
The Statesmen are back in action on Friday, Nov. 10, when they host Castleton for an NEHC game in The Cooler at 7 p.m.
