#1 Hobart skates past Spartans 8-1

The Hobart hockey team erupted for five goals in the second period as it knocked off Vermont State University Castleton in a New England Hockey Conference quarterfinal contest at The Cooler this evening. With their ninth straight win, the Statesmen are now 23-2-1 overall this season.

Junior Luke Aquaro had a season-high five points on two goals and three assists. He was one of 14 skaters to record a point. Sophomore Damon Beaver played all 60 minutes in goal. He made 20 saves as he earned his 13th win of the season.

Dominic Rodrigue started in goal for the Spartans (7-19-0). He made 43 saves.

STREAKING

• Hobart extended its unbeaten streak to 20 games. The Statesmen are 19-0-1 since losing to Babson back in November. This is Hobart’s second nine-game winning streak during that stretch.
• The Statesmen have scored five or more goals in nine straight games and 13 of their last 14.
• Hobart has won 34 straight games at The Cooler.

KEY STATS

• Hobart finished the game with a 51-21 advantage in shots on goal. The Statesmen had a 23-3 edge in the middle period as they built a 5-1 lead.
• Hobart was 3-for-7 on the power play. Two of the tallies came on a five-minute major that helped Hobart break the game open late in the middle stanza. Castleton was 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

SCORING SUMMARY

• The Statesmen opened the scoring at the 5:47 mark of the first period. Aquaro slipped a backhanded shot past Rodrigue for his 15th goal of the season. Sophomore Tanner Hartman and senior Jared Patterson notched assists on the goal.
• Just over a minute later, first-year Conor Lally gave Hobart a 2-0 lead on his first goal of the season. He one-timed a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle into the back of the net. The power-play goal was assisted by Aquaro and first-year Chris Duclair. It was Lally’s second goal of the season.
• Senior Artem Buzoverya extended the advantage to three goals near the midway portion of the game. He collected a pass from Sophomore Ignat Belov, deked…