{"id":88601,"date":"2018-10-25T09:09:44","date_gmt":"2018-10-25T14:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=88601"},"modified":"2020-08-24T14:14:24","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T19:14:24","slug":"hobart-the-early-favorite-in-very-competitive-nehc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2018\/10\/25\/hobart-the-early-favorite-in-very-competitive-nehc\/","title":{"rendered":"Hobart the early favorite in very competitive NEHC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jonas<\/a>
Jonas Toupal of Hobart (Kevin Colton)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The conference is officially re-aligned as a 10-team league with the additions this season of Johnson & Wales and Suffolk, which come over from the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The other big news is the retirement of Norwich’s hall of fame coach Mike McShane, who departs after 23 years behind the Cadets bench and four national championships. Former UMass-Lowell assistant Cam Ellsworth takes over in Northfield and looks to continue the program’s great success.<\/p>\n

Hobart won the NEHC in its first season in the league and did something very few teams have ever done in the process. On their way to the title, the Statesmen knocked off Norwich three times as the visiting team, including a 3-0 championship game win that earned them the title and an NCAA tournament berth.<\/p>\n

The Favorite<\/strong>
\nIt would be hard not to list coach Mark Taylor’s team as a favorite going into the season based on returning talent on the roster. Alexander Connal brings experience in goal for Hobart, while Mr. Versatility, Jonas Toupal, is a threat any time he is on the ice and in any situation. Last season Toupal led the team in scoring with 32 points and recorded six power-play goals and five game-winning goals for Hobart.<\/p>\n

The Dark Horses<\/strong>
\nThe Beacons of UMass-Boston have a ton of young talent, including forwards Nolan Redler and Zack Bross, as well as defenseman Nick Albano and goaltender Bailey McBurnie. There is a lot of senior leadership on this team, and that was certainly a key element in the Beacons’ run to the NCAA tournament just a couple of seasons ago.<\/p>\n

In this league you can never count out Babson. Coach Jamie Rice’s squad is a hard out at any point in the season, and they always seem to peak when it matters most in the second half. They play great team defense, have balanced scoring, and a solid netminder in Matt Pompa.<\/p>\n

USCHO Predicted Finish<\/strong>
\n1) Hobart
\n2) Babson
\n3) UMass-Boston
\n4) Norwich
\n5) Skidmore
\n6) New England College
\n7) Castleton
\n8) Southern Maine
\n9) Johnson & Wales
\n10) Suffolk<\/p>\n

Players to Watch<\/strong>
\nBabson: Matt Pompa — goaltender; Matt Brazel — forward
\nCastleton: Caleb Fizer — forward; Dan Fitzgerald — defenseman
\nHobart: Jonas Toupal — forward; Alexander Connal — goaltender
\nJohnson & Wales: Mike Rockwell — goaltender; Connor Bechtal — forward
\nUMass-Boston: Nick Albano — defense; Nolan Redler — forward
\nNew England College: Andreas Zollner — forward; Mike Whitehair — forward
\nNorwich: Cam Ellsworth — coach; Todd Jackson — forward
\nSkidmore: Brandon Kasel — goaltender; Brandon Borges — forward
\nSouthern Maine: Parker Sanderson — forward; Tyler Mathieu — forward
\nSuffolk: Mikhail Bryan — defenseman; Sean Henry — defenseman<\/p>\n

After some exhibition games and brief engagements out of conference to start the year off, most teams will be facing early challenges in league play starting in November. Getting off to a good start could mean a lot of good things for teams that find their game early in the fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hobart will look to hold off UMass-Boston and Babson in the very competitive NEHC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":111352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[666],"tags":[820],"coauthors":[822],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHobart the early favorite in very competitive NEHC - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hobart will look to hold off UMass-Boston and Babson in the very competitive NEHC.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88601\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hobart the early favorite in very competitive NEHC - 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