The Hobart College hockey team struck first and never let go of the lead, defeating Elmira College 5-3 in an ECAC West game played in Pine Valley, N.Y., tonight. The Statesmen have now won five straight games.
 
Hobart is 5-1-1 overall and 5-0-0 in ECAC West play. The Soaring Eagles fall to 1-4-0 overall and 1-4-0 in conference play. The two teams will meet again tomorrow night, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m. in Pine Valley.
 
Senior Sean Rudy led Hobart with a goal and an assist in the win. Senior goaltender Lino Chimienti made 42 saves in all 60 minutes. Carter Shinkaruk led the way for Elmira with two goals. Kenny Tencza added a goal and an assist.
 
First-year Trevor Poirier put the Statesmen on top 1-0 with 4:26 left in the opening period. His wrister came right after a faceoff win by Rudy. Just 1:20 into the second period, sophomore Jordan Haskell extended Hobart's lead to 2-0. His goal came off assists from juniors Nick Bingaman and Bobby Sokol.
 
At 9:41 into the middle period, Shinkaruk put Elmira on the board. His goal came off passes from Tencza and Jonathan Grassie. However, the Statesmen quickly took back the momentum with two goals in the final minute of the second. Rudy scored with 56 seconds left off a feed from sophomore Andrew Silard, and junior Connor Simon logged his first goal of the year with eight seconds on the clock. Seniors Mac Olson and Ben Gamache was credited with the assists.
 
Seven minutes into the final period, senior Brad Robbins capitalized on an Elmira turnover and scored top shelf to make it 5-1. It was Robbins' fifth goal of the season. The Soaring Eagles netted back-to-back goals by Shinkaruk and Tencza in the final two minutes of the game for the final score.
 
Sandro Aeschlimann played 59:23 in goal for Elmira and finished with 35 saves. The Soaring Eagles logged a 45-40 advantage in shots. The Statesmen went 0-for-2 on the power play and killed off all three of Elmira's power play chances.