GENEVA, N.Y. – The Skidmore College men's hockey team will compete in its first conference championship game in program history thanks to a 3-2 win over nationally fifth-ranked and top-seeded Hobart on Saturday in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) Semifinals.
 
The sixth-seeded Thoroughbreds will travel to eighth-ranked Babson next Saturday, March 5 to play for the championship. The fourth-seeded Beavers knocked off Elmira in overtime on Saturday, 3-2.  
 
Three freshmen: Kaeden Patrick, Zach Frisk, and Zach Lindewirth scored the goals for Skidmore (16-9-2) in front of a standing-room only crowd in Geneva. Frisk also assisted on Lindewirth's game-winning tally on the power play in the third period.
 
Tate Brandon totaled 32 saves including 12 each over the final two periods. Liam Lascelle finished with 19 stops for Hobart (19-5-2). The Statesmen will wait on a possible at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
 
Twice Skidmore built a two-goal lead only to be answered by a Hobart tally to swing back momentum. All five of the contest's goals were scored over the last 24 minutes of play. Patrick broke the stalemate with 3:21 to play in the second period. Danny Magnuson fed the puck to Mike Gelatt on the goal line, who dished to Patrick all alone in the slot to complete the tic-tac-toe play.
 
Frisk broke free on a breakaway and lifted the backhand under the bar to double the lead at 8:29 of the third. Devon Mussio and Matthew Monk had the assists from the back line.
 
Luke Aquaro went coast-to-coast and buried a backhand to put the hosts on the board at 11:11.
 
Then, Lindewirth connected with four seconds remaining on Skidmore power play on a broken play after Will Dow-Kenny's first pass was knocked down by a skate and Lindewirth shed his defender near the goal mount.
 
Hobart answered 1:11 later on a Mtthiew Wuth point shot through traffic. Jared Patterson and Shane Shell had the assists.
 
Skidmore outshot Hobart 9-8 in the first period, but it went 26-13 the rest of the way for Hobart. Despite the pressure, the Thoroughbreds aggressive style over the final five minutes kept the high-powered Statesmen out of the net.
 
Mason Beecher won a defensive zone faceoff with 10.9 seconds remaining to help clinch it.
 
The win is Skidmore's first in seven all-time conference semifinal appearances. Now with 16 victories, it is tied with the 2006-07 squad as the fourth-most winningest team in school history with the most wins since 1995-96.