New England Hockey Conference Semifinal
#5 Skidmore College Thoroughbreds (16-8-2) at #1 Hobart Statesmen (24-2)
Saturday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m. The Cooler, Geneva, N.Y.
 
GAME COVERAGE
LIVE VIDEO
LIVE STATS
 
MATCHUP:

• Skidmore and Hobart meet in a rematch of the 2022 NEHC semifinal game won by the Thoroughbreds, 3-2. The Statesmen have won 17 straight at home since then, including a 16-0 record this season.
• Hobart swept the season series, winning 4-0 in Geneva on Dec. 3 and 4-0 on Feb. 3 at the Saratoga Springs City Rink.
• Everett Wardle leads the Thoroughbreds in points with 7 goals and 21 assists for 28 points. Kaeden Patrick (14-9—23) and Wood (6-14—20) are next.
• Tate Brandon is 11-5-2 with a 2.64 GAA and .918 save %. Blaine Moore is 5-3 with a 1.94 GAA and .938 SV%.
• Luke Aquaro (17-16—33) and Jonah Alexander (14-17—31) lead Hobart. Aquaro, the NEHC Player of the Year, leads the nation in game winning goals with six and is seventh in goals and points per game.
• Goalie Damon Beaver leads the nation in goals against (1.07) and save percentage (.952).
• Hobart is first nationally in scoring defense (1.23), third in scoring margin (2.85) and ninth in offense (4.08).
• Skidmore is ranked 19^th nationally in power-play percentage (.241) and 20^th nationally and second in the NEHC in points. Thomas Finck is third nationally and first in the conference in short-handed goals with four.
• Nationally, Skidmore is ranked 26^th in the Feb. 19 Pairwise Rankings, down one spot from the Feb. 12 ranking. Hobart is second, Nowrich 9^th and Babson 18^th.
• Skidmore's 16 wins tie the most since the team moved to the NEHC/ECAC East in 1998-99. The team won 16 last season and in 2006-07.
• Wardle became the 52^nd player to reach the 50-point career mark for the Thoroughbreds in the Elmira win. He has 17 goals, 34 assists for 51 points in 54 career games.
• Brandon is eighth on the goalie career-win list with 22 wins in 42 games.

SERIES/POSTSEASON

• Skidmore beat Elmira 4-3 in overtime to advance to the semifinals for the fifth time. Matthew Monk scored off a Wardle faceoff win with three seconds to play to force overtime. Devon Mussio had the other assist. The Thoroughbreds controlled play in the OT with Patrick scoring from Wardle and Connor Wood at 6:08 for the win.
• Hobart beat Castleton 7-3 in the quarterfinals. The Statesmen were down 3-2 after two periods, before scoring five in the third for the win.
• Hobart leads the all-time series 4-15-1.
• Skidmore won two straight road games last season to advance to the NEHC Championship game at Babson. It was the team's first championship appearance.
• This will be the second time Skidmore and Hobart have met in the playoffs. Skidmore won in the 2022 semifinals 3-2, while Hobart won a 2020 quarterfinal 4-2.
• The Statesmen competed in the 2022 NCAA Championships, losing 7-4 to Adrian in the quarterfinals.

ALSO/NEXT

• #3 Babson travels to #2 Norwich in the other semifinal.
• The winner advances to the NEHC Championship game on March 4 at the home the highest remaining seed.