Pine Valley, NY – The Elmira College Men's Ice Hockey team made a late surge, but was unable to complete the comeback as it fell to visiting Hobart College, 5-4, Saturday evening at the Murray Athletic Center. The win improves the Statesmen to 12-10-1 overall and 3-6-1 in ECAC West play, while the loss drops the Soaring Eagles to 14-7-2 overall and 7-2-2 in conference competition.

 

Elmira set the tone from the start as 21 seconds in Darcy Vaillancourt '12 (Bonfield, ONT -- Innisfil Lakers) fed John Clewlow '12 (Brampton, ONT -- Dixie Bee Hives) who beat Hobart goaltender Nick Broadwater top shelf on the glove side for the early lead. Five minutes later the Statesmen responded when Frank Salituro took a shot that was tipped in by David Stevens for a power-play score. Less than one minute later the Purple and Gold answered when Brendan Sanders '12 (Mississauga, ONT -- Vaughan Vipers) knocked home an easy put away with D'Arcy Oakes '13 (Shanty Bay, ONT -- Quinnipiac University) and Vaillancourt registering assists. EC took a 2-1 advantage into the first intermission.

 

Neither team could find the back of the net early on in the second period, but then Hobart tallied two scores in the span of 63 seconds. Salituro fed Hannah for a breakaway score and Brad Richard scored just after finishing serving a penalty. Bronson Kovacs was credited with an assist on the score. Just like that the Statesmen turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, which they took into the second intermission.

 

Hobart added a huge insurance goal just less than six minutes into the third period when Hannah registered his second goal of the game, this time off a pass from Ryan Michel. At the 14:05 mark the Statesmen added a power-play marker when Kovacs lit the lamp off a pass from Terrence O'Neill. Elmira continued to dig deep as they responded a minute and a half later when Martin Lee '12 (Toronto, ONT -- Vaughan Vipers) scored with Vaillancourt and Kevin Willer '12 (Toronto, ONT -- North York Rangers) registering assists on the play. After a Hobart penalty the Soaring Eagles had a golden opportunity to bring the deficit within striking distance and they did just that at the 17:56 mark as Vaillancourt scored on the power play off passes from Lee and Willer. EC pulled goaltender Darren MacDonald '13 (Stittsville, ONT -- Nepean Raiders) with 86 seconds to play, trying to find the equalizer. Willer won two important face-offs for Elmira, but Broadwater stopped shots by Christian Morissette '12 (Beaconsfield, QUE -- RPI), Vaillancourt and Clewlow to preserve the 5-4 win for Hobart.

 

MacDonald made 17 saves in between the pipes for Elmira, while Broadwater stopped 36 shots in net for the Statesmen.

 

The Elmira College Men's Ice Hockey team returns to action Friday when they host Utica College at the Murray Athletic Center on Fan Appreciation Night. All Soaring Eagle fans will receive free admission to the contest on behalf of the Elmira College Athletic Department. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.

 

Hobart 5 Elmira 4