No. 11/13 Hobart Stalls Men’s Hockey, 5-3

No. 11/13 Hobart Stalls Men’s Hockey, 5-3

GENEVA, N.Y. – Michael Levine made 53 saves in net, but it wouldn't be enough for Suffolk men's hockey at No. 11/13 Hobart as the Rams slipped to the Statesmen, 5-3, in their regular-season finale Saturday night at The Cooler. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | No. 11/13 Hobart 5
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-16-0, 5-13-0 NEHC) | No. 11/13 Hobart (17-6-2, 11-5-2 NEHC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk fell in a two-goal hole as Hobart broke open the scoring just over five-minute into the action of the opening period and 2:15 into the second stanza. The Rams rallied from there as LJ Fellows and Mikhail Bryan coupled a pair of marks over a 1:43 span to level the playing field at 2-all. Fellows started the rally when he fired a shot from the point through traffic past Alexander Connal. The senior defenseman set-up Bryan's one-timer that tied game less than two minutes later.  

Things flipped in the Rams favor at the 12:45 minute mark of the middle period when Phil Kreuser potted a shorthanded, unassisted mark to give the blue-and-gold a 3-2 edge. Kresuer's broke up a pass attempt at Suffolk's blue line, raced the length of the rink and slipped a backhanded shot past Connal.  

Suffolk did not hold onto the advantage for long as the Statesmen answered with 2:24 left in the second period to knot things up at 3-all as the teams headed into the locker rooms for the second intermission.  

The contests remained evened at 3-3 for the majority of the third until Hobart's Aaron Maguyon scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal at the 17:38 mark of the third period. The game appeared to be headed to overtime, but Maguyon forced a turnover in the offensive zone with a hard forecheck. He fired a low snap shot from the slot past Levine to put the Statesmen in front once again.  

Will Harrison iced the game for Hobart with an empty-net goal for the final 5-3 margin.  

NETMINDER NOTES

  • Levine had a night in between the pipes with a 53-save performance. 
  • Connal registered 27 stops to backstop the Statesmen to victory.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

  • Fellows finished with a multi-point night with one goal and one assist. 
  • Bryan and Kresuer each found the back of the net for the Rams. 
  • Nick Abbene recorded one assist. 
  • Hobart held a hefty 58-30 shot advantage and took the face-off battle, 55-27.  

NOTEWORTHY

  • Levine put together a career-high 53 saves the most stops by a Suffolk netminder since Rams' Hall of Famer Jeff Rose collected 55 pucks in a 6-1 setback to Utica Jan. 15, 2011.  

POST-GAME PIC

COMING UP
Suffolk awaits the official seeding of the 2019 NEHC Tournament, which is set to be released tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 10.