Milton, MA – The Curry Men's Hockey team will have revenge on their mind as they travel to Geneva, NY to take on the Hobart Statesmen on Saturday in an NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal matchup. The Statesmen, the reigning national champion, ended Curry's season last year in the same round, defeating the Colonels 5-1.
The Colonels, ranked 12th in the country with a record of 21-5-1, will look to return the favor this year, as they travel to take on the #1 ranked Statemen. Hobart stands at 25-2-1 on the season, and received a first round bye in the NCAA tournament. They earned the NEHC's automatic bid by virtue of winning the conference's championship game with a 5-0 win over Skidmore. Hobart has won 11 straight games, and have beaten six ranked opponents this year. They are a perfect 16-0-0 on their home ice, which is where Saturday's game will take place.
If the Colonels want to win and advance to the first NCAA semifinal in school history, it will mean finding a way to get the puck past the best goalie tandem in the country. There starting goalie, Damon Beaver boasts the second best goals against average in the country with a average of .937. The only goalie with a better GAA, is his back up Mavrick Goyer, who boasts a GAA of .905.
The man tasked with going head-to-head with them is Curry goalie Shane Soderwall, who's 1.566 GAA isn't too shabby either, and ranks fifth in the country. The three goalies also boast the top three save percentages in the country, with Soderwall ranked third with a rate of .946, just behind Goyer (.947) and Beaver (.963). Soderwall, the CCC goalie and rookie of the year, is coming off one of his best games of the season against SUNY Geneseo, as he stopped all 35 shots he faced.
Just like last week, the Colonels will be facing one of the top goal scorers in the country in Tanner Hartman. He is tied for the fifth most goals in the country with 19. One of those players he is tied with is Alex Dameski of SUNY Geneseo, who the Colonels were able to keep quiet last week.
But Hartman isn't the only goal scorer for the Statesmen, as they boast three other players with double-digit scorers in Luke Aquaro (16), Ignat Belov (16), and Chris Duclair (14). Among other players to watch out for are the NEHC Player of the Year, Artem Buzoverya, who finished the year with eight goals and 23 assists.
Along with Soderwall, the Colonels will lean heavily on two CCC All-Conference defenders in Matt Connor (First Team) and Jesse Galassi (Second Team). For Galassi, both last week at Geneseo, and this week at Hobart serve as homecomings for the Lockport, NY native, as both games were and will be played less than two hours from his hometown.
As is the case every game for the Colonels, they will rely heavily on their first line of Eelis Laaksonen (12 goals, 16 assists), Gage Dill (11 goals, 18 assists), and Tao Ishizuka (10 goals, 14 assists). The trio has accounted for 37% of the Curry goals this season.
All-time, the Colonels are 0-11 vs Hobart. Prior to last year's matchup, the last time the two teams faced off was in January of 2016 when Hobart took home a 4-2 win, the closest game between the two schools. The Colonels have never held the Statesmen below four goals, something they will likely need to do to advance on Saturday.
For those planning on being at the game in person at the Geneva Recreation Complex Skating Rink, tickets will be sold at the door for $6 for adults, $4 for students/seniors and $3 for children. Tickets will only be able to be bought with cash.
For those that aren't able to make it to the game, you can follow along with the following links:
Live Stats: https://hwsathletics.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
