Three members of the Hobart College ice hockey team were honored by the ECAC West this week. Senior forward Ben Gamache (Longlac, Ontario) was selected the Player of the Week, sophomore Frank Oplinger (Sewickley, Pa.) was tabbed the Goalie of the Week and first-year forward Cam Shaheen (North Andover, Mass.) earned a spot on the honor roll.
In addition, the Statesmen, who improved to 16-2-2 overall and 9-1-0 in conference play, remained at No. 3 in this week’s D3hockey.com poll and No. 4 in the USCHO.com poll.
Gamache shared a team-high with four points in two ECAC West victories over Utica this weekend. In a 7-3 win on Friday night, he logged two goals and an assist. On Saturday in a 4-2 come-from-behind victory, Gamache scored what proved to be the game-winning goal 5:38 into the third period. He leads Hobart with 25 points and 18 assists this season. He’s tied for ninth in the nation in assists per game (0.95), and 17th in points per game (1.32).
It’s the third week in a row Oplinger has earned the Goalie of the Week award. He played all 120 minutes in goal over the weekend and registered a total of 60 saves, a .923 save percentage and a 2.50 goals against average. On Friday night, he turned aside 25 shots and on Saturday, he made 35 saves. Oplinger improved to 8-1-0 in goal this year. He’s sporting a 1.57 goals against average and a .951 save percentage this season.
Shaheen notched three points on a goal and two assists against the Pioneers. He scored a goal and assisted on the game winner on Friday. On Saturday, he assisted on the game-tying goal at 2:49 into the third period. In 11 games this season, Shaheen has posted eight points on three goals and five assists.
The Statesmen are riding the longest unbeaten streak in the nation at 12 games. Hobart has earned nine straight victories. The Statesmen rank second in Division III on the penalty kill (91.3%), third in team win percentage (.850), sixth in scoring offense (4.15 g/gm) and seventh in scoring defense (1.90 ga/gm).
Hobart will be back in action this weekend, when it travels to play two ECAC West games at Neumann. The Statesmen and the Knights will meet at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5 and at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6.
