February 18, 2006

GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart College ice hockey team lost to visiting Elmira this afternoon in ECAC West action at the Geneva Recreation Complex. The win improves the Soaring Eagles overall record to 13-8-2 and evened their conference to 6-6-1, while the Statesmen fall to 17-6-0 and 8-5-0.

The visitors opened the scoring at the 10:39 mark of the first period, when junior forward Darcy Pettie (Kingston, Ontario) knocked in a rebound to take a 1-0 advantage into the intermission.

Elmira extended its lead to 2-0 at the 3:37 mark of the second stanza, when first-year forward Dave McKenna (Toronto, Ontario) registered his first of two tallies.

Two minutes later, Hobart sliced the Soaring Eagle lead to just one, when junior defenseman Mike Manos (North Andover, Mass.) sniped a shorthanded goal into the upper right corner of the cage. First-year defenseman Andrew Brennan (Milford, Mass.) and senior Lee Carrier (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) were awarded assists on Manos’ first goal of the season.

That would be as close as the Statesmen would get, as Elmira closed the period with a two-goal run thanks to goals by sophomore forward Michael Richard (LaSalle, Quebec) and senior forward Brandon Rose (Sudbury, Ontario).

The Soaring Eagles continued their run with a pair of power-play goals to round out the scoring in the final frame. Junior forward Justin Joy (Norfolk, N.Y.) and McKenna scored at 8:12 and 10:52, respectively, to earn their sixth win in seven tries.

In goal, Elmira senior goaltender Greg Fargo (Kingston, Ontario) made 26 saves to register his 11th win of the season, while first-year netminder Keith Longo (Hopedale, Mass.) turned aside 25 Soaring Eagle offerings.

Hobart returns to action at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24, when the Statesmen travel to Neumann (14-8-1, 6-6-1).