December 14 , 2004

GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart College ice hockey team continues to make its way up the USCHO.com Division III poll, climbing a spot to No. 13 this week. Middlebury remains atop the poll for the seventh straight week, while ECAC West rival Manhattanville and Norwich round out the top three, respectively.

The Statesmen split a pair of contests this past weekend, beating Wesleyan University 3-1 on Friday night, but falling to 11th-ranked SUNY Oswego 5-3 the following afternoon.

Against the Cardinals, Hobart scored two goals in a 38-second span in the third period to push its unbeaten streak to a record eight games. Junior defenseman Greg Gallagher (Framingham, Mass.) provided the game-winner for the Statesmen in the third stanza.

Looking to keep that streak going against the Lakers, Hobart fell behind 2-0 after the first period. Down 3-0 early in the second frame, sophomore forward Adam Scott (Manchester, Mass.) made it 3-1 after two periods with a short-handed goal.

Senior forward Craig Levey (Mississauga, Ontario) made it a one-goal game eight minutes into the third session, but Oswego answered right way to go up by two again. The Statesmen pulled to within one again on a goal by Will Brame (West Hartford, Conn.) with 7:49 left to play, but they could not complete the comeback as the Lakers tallied an empty net goal with one second left to ice the victory and break Hobart’s 17-game home unbeaten streak.

The Statesmen are 6-2-4 overall and are led by junior Edward Poirier (Methuen, Mass.) with 11 points (5-6) and Levey and Will Bodine (North Massapequa, N.Y.) with eight points apiece.

First-year goaltender Dimitri Papaevagelou (Windham, N.H.) is 5-1-3 on the year and is ranked 10th in Division III in goals against average (2.11) and 12th in save percentage (.917).

Hobart does not return to the ice again for an NCAA game until Jan. 14, traveling to Cortland for a 7 p.m., faceoff. The Statesmen, however, will travel to Germany and the Czech Republic on Jan. 1-8, playing four games against local teams.