Scott BiggarThe Hobart Statesmen (6-6-2) dominated the first two periods of tonight’s game against the Brockport Golden Eagles (7-6), building a 3-0 lead, but then had to withstand a ferocious comeback. Brockport scored a pair of power-play goals in the third period, but couldn’t get the equalizer, and Hobart held on for a 3-2 victory. “We … Read more
The Geneseo Ice Knights stormed back from a three goal deficit in the third period to tie the game with less than a two minutes remaining against the Manhattanville Valiants. But sophomore Evan Michalchuk saved the day for the Valiants, scoring off a rebound with 44 seconds remaining to give Manhattanville the 6-5 victory. “”We … Read more
Back in the Groove? Hobart stumbled through the last two weeks of last month, starting on Nov. 14 when they gave up four one goal leads against Neumann. The bottom fell out the next weekend when Hobart dropped a pair of games against Elmira and the slide continued a week later out of conference with … Read more
Adjusting In an unusual Saturday/Sunday schedule, Manhattanville lost its first two games of the year, both in non-conference play. The Valiants dropped their first contest to Curry, 3-2, and then saw its weekend completely fall apart Sunday afternoon against Williams, losing 5-1. “Curry and Williams played great road games,” said Manhattanville head coach Keith Levinthal. … Read more
Growing Pains With a very youthful team, Neumann has been struggling through the first quarter of the season. The Knights are a respectable 2-2-2, despite having played a very difficult schedule to date. But Neumann is 0-2-2 in its last four games and the two losses were by large margins. “It’s all growing pains, consistency … Read more
More Offensive The Manhattanville offense is clicking nicely three weeks into the season, averaging 6.67 goals per game to lead the nation. Coming off a strong weekend against Lebanon Valley (whom Manhattanville scored 16 goals against) some might scoff at the garish numbers. Not so fast. “I was impressed with Lebanon Valley,” said Manhattanville head … Read more
Splitting the Mustangs In a bit of a surprise, Elmira split a home-and-home series with the Morrisville Mustangs this past weekend. Coming off a rough and tumble weekend against Oswego, the Soaring Eagles are a bit dinged up and keenly felt the loss of the missing players against Morrisville. “The games were interesting to say … Read more
It is most definitely a cliché, but Neumann stunned the college hockey world when they walked away with the 2009 national championship last March. After stumbling through most of the season, the Knights got hot in the playoffs and ran the table all the way to the final buzzer in Lake Placid. That team was … Read more
After a trip to the NCAA semifinal game last season, where Hobart lost to eventual champion Neumann, the Statesmen are hungry to get back to the Promised Land this year. Hobart has played in the NCAA tournament three of the last four years, but the team knows it needs to take care of all of … Read more
The last couple of seasons have not been friendly to the Lebanon Valley Flying Dutchmen. Two seasons ago, Lebanon Valley went 1-23-1 and barely survived an effort to kill the program. Last year, with 17 freshmen on the roster, the Flying Dutchmen continued to struggle going winless during the season. Needless to say, the challenges … Read more
Manhattanville stumbled early last season, going 0-2-1 against Neumann within the first five games of the year, despite having what appeared to be a more talented team. The Valiants got rolling, though, losing only once in its next 19 contests and finished second in the regular season standings. Looking at the Manhattanville roster before this … Read more
Despite starting out last season with all sorts of promise, the Utica Pioneers struggled during much of the year. The Pioneers were strong out of conference, going 6-2-2 in 10 non-conference games, and amassed a 4-1-1 record by the middle of November. But the defense faltered when league play began in earnest and Utica dropped … Read more
The 2008-2009 season was remarkable for the ECAC West. The Neumann Knights ran the playoff table in stunning fashion and captured the national championship. As if that wasn’t enough, other teams in the ECAC West also had extended seasons. Hobart made it to the NCAA semifinal round, riding the coat tails of senior All-American goaltender … Read more
After eight seasons at the helm of the Elmira Soaring Eagles, Tim Ceglarski retired last April. The college immediately started a search for a new coach and landed former player and former assistant coach Aaron Saul, who had been the head coach of Potsdam State the past two seasons. Transitions are always a disruptive time, … Read more
Neumann Knights (19-9-2 overall, 8-5-2 in ECAC West) Despite having put together a tremendous run to earn a berth in the national semifinal round in Lake Placid, the Neumann Knights aren’t embracing the label of a Cinderella team. Just a month ago, Neumann was barely a blip on the NCAA tournament radar. The Knights were … Read more
The Hobart Statesmen (20-6-2) defeated the Nichols Bisons (25-4) by a score of 3-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Tonight’s game marked the first time that Hobart has hosted an NCAA tournament game, and the second NCAA tournament victory in Statesmen history. “It is kind of a monkey off the back in … Read more
Neumann Knights (17-9-2 overall, 8-5-2 in ECAC West) Last Saturday, Neumann won its first ECAC West championship in dramatic fashion. Sophomore defenseman Jeff Rodell crashed the net and swatted home a rebound with just 4.2 seconds remaining to defeat Hobart, 3-2. The title game was the culmination of the Knights roll through the league playoffs, … Read more
The storybook playoff run came to a Cinderella end for the No. 4 seeded Neumann Knights as they defeated the No. 3 seed Hobart Statesmen 3-2. Neumann defeated Utica in the play-in round and then downed No. 1 seed Elmira last weekend to make it to the championship game and win its first ECAC West … Read more
No. 3 Hobart Statesmen vs. No. 4 Neumann Knights Upsets ruled the day last weekend when the lower seed teams won both of the ECAC West semifinal playoff games. No. 4 seed Neumann toppled No. 1 Elmira, 2-1, at the Thunderdomes and No. 3 seed Hobart finally won at Playland Ice Casino as the Statesmen … Read more
â€Rise and Shine, It’s Playoff Time†That’s how Elmira coach Tim Ceglarski greeted me when we talked early on Tuesday morning. It may have been the case of too many cups of coffee, but he definitely has a point. It is time for playoff hockey in the ECAC West and teams either win or see … Read more