The Utica College men's hockey team led 4-2 headed into the third period of play but ECAC Men's West Conference rival Hobart College netted four unanswered goals in the final stanza to earn a 6-4 victory. Hobart leading scorer Matthew Wallace netted the first and last goals of the contest for the Statesmen, while Bobby Cahill tallied the game-winner in the third period and also added an assist.
With the win, Hobart snapped a four game winless streak and improved to 4-5-2 overall and 2-3-1 in conference play, while the Pioneers dropped to 4-4-2 overall and 2-2-1 in conference. The Statemen now own a 9-6-3 all-time series advantage over Utica.
Wallace opened the scoring on the evening when he netted his seventh goal of the year, on the power play, 18:18 into the first period of play. The goal, which gave Hobart a 1-0 lead, was assisted by Brad Richard and Kyle Whitaker.
The Pioneers answered right back with a goal 41 seconds later to knot the score at 4-4 with 1:01 to go in the opening period. Junior Sean Timkey scored his first goal of the season of an assist from freshman defenseman Robert Etts.
Hobart shot out of the gates hot in the second period and netted an even strength goal just over two minutes into the period. Daniel Organ netted his seventh goal of the season off an assist from Ryan Corcoran to give Hobart a one goal advantage.
The Pioneers used three straight power play goals over the course of 4:45 midway through the second period to take a two goal lead. Sophomore Tim Coffman tallied two of those power play goals, just 23 seconds apart, off of wrist shots from the middle to give UC a 3-2 advantage at the 12:25 mark of the period. Freshman Kyle Zobler and sophomore Scott Wentworth assisted on Coffman's first goal, while senior Matt Fitzgibbons added a helper on Coffmans' second goal. Coffman now leads the team with 12 points on seven goals and five assists.
Senior forward Jeff Pappalardi added a 6-on-4 goal to give UC a 4-2 advantage with 2:46 to go in the second period. Pappalardi's first goal of the season was assisted by Fitzgibbons, who now has ten points on the year and ranks second on the team with six assists.
The Statesmen dominated the third period of play and out shot UC 17-5 on their way to four unanswered goals and the victory. Greg Ciciola, Aleksey Koval, Bobby Cahill and Matthew Wallace all netted third period goals for Hobart.
UC senior goalie Anthony Luckow stopped 33 shots in his third loss of the season, while his counterpart, Nick Broadwater, added 13 saves for Hobart.
Hobart out shot Utica 39-17 en route to a two goal victory. UC went 3-for-7 on the power play compared to Hobart's 1-for-3 performance with a man advantage.
The Pioneers return to action on Saturday night when they take on visiting and nationally-ranked No. 6 Elmira College in conference play at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live locally on WIBX 950 AM and fans can also check www.ucpioneers.com for links to live video, audio and stats. Hobart continues conference play tomorrow night when they travel to Rye, N.Y. to take on Manhattanville at 7 p.m. Elmira defeated Manhattanville in a conference contest on Friday night and the Soaring Eagles now sit atop the conference standings with a perfect 5-0 record in ECAC Men's West play.
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