PINE VALLEY, N.Y. – A new day provided a different result on Saturday as the Elmira College men’s ice hockey program handed No. 1 Hobart College just its second loss of the season behind a four-goal outing from Chance Gorman ’24. The Soaring Eagles notched a 7-5 victory as EC honored 50 years of hockey inside the Murray Athletic Center as part of Athletics Alumni Weekend.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 7, No. 1 Hobart 5
LOCATION: Pine Valley, N.Y. | Murray Athletic Center
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (9-9-1, 6-5-1 NEHC), Hobart (17-2-0, 10-2-0 NEHC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Hobart would jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first period of action as a goal just over four minutes into the contest made it 1-0 before a battle for a loose puck at the 11:42 mark doubled the lead for the Statesmen. Elmira, however, would answer with a goal before the end of the period as Gorman tallied his first of the contest at the 12:20 mark with an assist going to Jake Russo ’23 to make it 2-1.
Gorman and Larry Niland ’23 would notch back-to-back goals just over three minutes apart early in the second period to give the Purple & Gold a 3-2 advantage. Gorman’s second goal of the night was set up by Brendan Schultz ’24, while Niland’s tally saw assists go to Kerfalla Toure ’26 and Janis Vizbelis ’24. Both sides would follow with goals on the power-play as Hobart tied the score 3-3 at the 8:07 mark, while Gorman completed his first collegiate hat trick with a special-teams tally at the 12:12 mark to make it 4-3.
Elmira continued to move the puck around the offensive zone with the man advantage as the Purple & Gold would get another power-play goal at the 4:09 mark of the third period off the stick of Bailey Krawczyk ’24 to make it 5-3. A third consecutive goal by Elmira increased the lead to 6-3 as Ryan Reifler ’24 created a turnover at the blue line and would find the back of the net at the 8:07 mark.
Hobart would answer with a pair of goals over the next four minutes of action as the Statesmen applied heavy pressure around the Elmira crease. The lead for the Soaring Eagles would be trimmed to 6-5 at the 15:51 mark before Gorman would find the back of an empty Hobart net at the 18:40 mark to give Elmira a 7-5 advantage. Gorman’s fourth goal of the night would be enough to secure the victory and weekend split for Elmira against its NEHC rival.
In net for the Soaring Eagles, Kyle Curtin ’26 improved to 6-5-0 on the season after recording 33 saves and recording his first collegiate assist on Gorman’s empty-net goal in the third period. Elmira has now recorded a win over the top-ranked team in DIII in each of the past two seasons after the Soaring Eagles defeated Geneseo on the road last winter. The win also improves Elmira’s head-to-head record against Hobart to 61-33-3 and snaps a two-game losing skid dating back to last season against the Statesmen.
UP NEXT:
The Purple & Gold return to the MAC for a pair of NEHC contests next weekend as Elmira hosts Johnson & Wales University on January 27 at 7:00 P.M. and UMass Boston on January 28 at 4:00 P.M.
