On Saturday, March 9, the Hobart College Statesmen ended their NCAA National Tournament curse that lasted for an entire decade. With their victory over Plymouth State, the Statesmen won their first National Tournament game since they reached the Frozen Four in the 2008-09 season. 

Since then, the roster has completely turned over twice, but this current senior class has had great success in its four years, including four National Tournament appearances. Head coach Mark Taylor has been through all the struggles this past decade as he has been at the helm since 2000. Taylor has seen his program hit peaks and valleys, with the highs of two Frozen Fours, and has the most wins in program history. 

Taylor’s coaching schemes and systems suits his deep roster impeccably. While the team does not have a single player averaging a point per game, Hobart College scores an average of 3.97 goals per game, which is top 10 in all of Div. III. This goes to show how deep the roster is for the Statesmen, with five players scoring 20 or more points and 16 in double digits. Depth in hockey is arguably the most important aspect of a team, especially come playoff time. In the postseason, a team needs to be able to roll three or four lines in the waning minutes of games as it protects players from fatigue.

“Your top guys have got to score, certainly playoff time is a time [where] teams are playing tighter defense and people should be playing at the top of their game,” Taylor said. “It’s more [about the] opportunity than it is who gets that opportunity.”

The way Hobart College gets its opportunities demonstrates its style of play quite well. Rather than scoring flashy goals with slick stick handling, the Statesmen grind it out. They are not scoring on line rushes as much as they are cycling the puck, extending their offensive zone time and tiring out the opposition. They dominate the puck in the offensive zone and play a physical style. Once the opposition is hemmed in its own zone for an extended shift, Hobart College works the puck toward the crease and scores dirty goals in tight. 

This was evident in its first-round matchup against Plymouth State when scoring both its goals. On Denicourt’s game-tying goal, Alec Robitalle entered the zone with ease. He brought the puck along the half wall and muscled the puck back to the point. Denicourt was able to sneak into the middle of the slot and fire a puck stickside. On the game-winner, Hobart College had its goal scorer, Robitalle, parked in front of the net. He maintained his position in the dirty area and used his slick hands to slide the rebound through his defender’s legs, pick up the loose puck and bury it from within inches of the crease.

Hobart College would finish the game with an impressive 40 shots to Plymouth State’s 14. Typically, the shot numbers do not reflect the better of the chances, but rather who possessed the puck longer. In watching the game, it was evident that the Statesmen dominated the puck as it was hardly in their defensive end. When the play did end up in their zone, the team defense was impressive. It angled Plymouth State into the boards when they attempted to enter the zone. As a result, it was very difficult for Panthers to cleanly enter the zone. Instead, they were forced to dump the puck behind the net and lost puck possession. The biggest reason for Hobart College jumping on those loose pucks first was its speed. It had the legs to edge the Panthers out on nearly every 50-50 puck.

Oswego State head coach, Ed Gosek, recognizes Hobart College’s style of play and understands the challenge at hand in getting out of the defensive zone quickly.

“We need to get back quickly for pucks, first of all,” Gosek said. “We need to try to get out before they can establish their forecheck. That’s the most intelligent way. … Against good teams, you see it every night in the NHL: teams are going to get zone time. Can you keep them to the perimeter? … If we can keep pucks to the outside, [Richer] can handle most of them.”

Gosek’s Lakers saw the Statesmen at the Marano Campus Ice Arena back on Nov. 10, but that was a long time ago. At the time, Aaron Huffnagle scored the second goal, while now he is not on the roster, and junior Alexander Connal was the starting goaltender for the Statesmen. Now, freshman Liam Lascelle has taken the reigns in net, but Taylor proclaimed that the biggest difference from then until now is simple.

“We are more disciplined,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s comments validate the fact that on Nov. 10, the Statesmen recorded 24 penalty minutes, including a five-minute major and game misconduct for Julien Denicourt. Additionally, Taylor has been very happy with Lascelle who has provided steady goaltending.

“Consistency in play and his top game,” Taylor said of Lascelle. “He was an all-league goalie in a very good junior league [CCHL]. We expected him to be competing for the No. 1 job.”

While the team looks different, its style of play has not changed. From the Lakers’ perspective, they still play like a mix of two SUNYAC rivals.

“They get after it and play physical like a Fredonia,” Gosek said. “They got skilled guys, and their defense are active like a Geneseo. I like Hobart’s defense a lot. I think they’re very good at getting up on the rush and generating stuff from the offensive blue line.”

Like SUNY Fredonia, who has sophomore Victor Tracy, the Statesmen have a budding star of their own, Zach Tyson. Tyson is tied for the team lead in points with senior Jonas Toupal. Tyson’s 26 points and 20 assists is third among all rookies in Div. III. While he is scoring at a rate that teams cannot expect heading into a first-year, Taylor knew Tyson could contribute to the team’s performance. 

“You only expect him to be a good freshman and an impact player, but especially in hockey, it’s not a one-man line. … It’s [the] chemistry of the lines,” Taylor said. “Would I have said he’s going to be up there in scoring? I think that would have been a high expectation for anybody coming in, … [but] you’re always expecting someone to emerge.”

Another player who has emerged, this time as a power play staple, is defenseman Tanner Shaw. He has scored three goals on the man-advantage and has helped the unit rank within the top-50 of Div. III. The unit sets up shop similar to the Plattsburgh State Cardinals as they use two defensemen on the power play. At their set positions, the two defensemen play both the left and right point and creep down toward the goal when it is applicable. Adding to their scoring depth is the fact that 12 different skaters have scored at least one power play goal with three being the most goals by any one player on the man advantage.

The Statesmen have still had some troubles with discipline, which causes them to take a lot of penalties. As a team, they average 15 penalty minutes per game, a number that is somewhat inflated due to the 10 five-minute major penalties they have taken. Despite this, they have taken several penalties early in games, something that can be fatal for a team that needs to play with a lead. Their penalty kill, however, is very impressive at 85.2 percent. They play slightly more passive than the Oswego State penalty kill, but once teams enter the zone, the Statesmen do a good job knocking the puck off the opposition’s stick. 

Regardless of the numbers, this Saturday will be an exciting game. Both teams are very similar in the sense that they like to roll all four of their lines, regardless of the situation. Both coaches trust their four lines to generate offense when they need it most.

“We like to roll four lines. We think there is strengths in numbers,” Gosek said. “They like to roll four lines. They’ve got depth. They don’t have key guys. We don’t have key guys as far as depending on one player, which is a positive for both teams. It’ll make for an exciting game for the fans.”