Matthew Garman

Will Bodine

February 25, 2006

ASTON, Pa.—Feb. 25—The seventh-ranked Hobart College ice hockey team wrapped up a record-breaking regular season with a 5-2 victory over conference foe Neumann this evening at the Ice Works Complex, and now set its sights on the ECAC West Tournament on March 3-4.

The Statesmen (19-6-0, 10-5-0) have been hot down the stretch—winning six out of their past seven contests—to shatter the program’s single-season wins record (15), putting an additional four victories between the previous record holders, the 1978-79 (15-16-1) and 2003-04 (15-8-5) squads.

With the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament already secured the previous evening, Hobart continued to build upon its impressive resume by sweeping the Knights, who were ranked 11th in the latest edition of the NCAA Division III Regional poll.

Senior forward Matthew Garman (Wexford, Pa.) and senior defeseman Will Bodine (North Massapequa, N.Y.) led the charge for the Statesmen with two points each.

Garman opened the scoring midway through the first frame, when he snapped a wrist shot past Neumann sophomore goalkeeper Mike Collichio (Rochester, N.Y.) off a feed from Bodine. The hosts tallied the equalizer just four minutes later to take a 1-1 tie into the second period.

That would be as close as the Knights would get, as Hobart regained its lead in the latter stages of the second period, when sophomore Shawn Houde (Manchester, N.H.) and senior forward Ed Poirier (Methuen, Mass.) scored 30 seconds apart to stake the Statesmen to a 3-1 advantage heading into the final period.

Hobart continued its run, when junior forward Conor Bradley (West Hartford, Conn.) lifted a rebound over Collichio’s left pad for his team-leading 17th goal just 2:45 into the third.

Less than two minutes later, Neumann cut the lead to 4-2 with a power-play goal, but first-year forward Jason Merritt (Chapel Hill, N.C.) round out the scoring at the 10:36 mark. Garman and Bodine were awarded assists on Merritt’s fifth goal of the campaign.

In goal, sophomore Dimitri Papaevagelou (Windham, N.H.) continued to shine as he stopped 27 shots to earn his fifth victory of the season, while Collichio made 37 saves.

Hobart returns to action on March 3, when the Statesmen square off against Elmira (15-8-2, 8-6-1) in the semifinal round of the ECAC West Tournament at Manhattanville. The hosts will play Utica in the other semifinal contest.