The Hobart College ice hockey team hosts Babson for non-league games on Friday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m. to open the 2016-17 season.
 
Hobart Head Coach Mark Taylor begins his 17th season at the helm of the Hobart hockey program. "To win as many hockey games as we can and to go further than we have gone." That's the goal for the Statesmen as they look to log their 15th consecutive winning season and defend their back-to-back ECAC West titles. 2015-16 saw the Statesmen log a 21-5-2 overall record, a 12-3-0 mark in conference play and earn their sixth appearance in the NCAA tournament.
 
"We are in a good place with this team. I know what they are capable of," said Taylor. "We just have to go after it. We have to put in the work to reach those capabilities. Practice has to be deliberate, ownership has to be extreme and the passion has to burn inside us to get the dial back to where we have gotten it before and then find a way to turn it forward a couple more clicks"
 
Taylor returns 22 players from last year's roster and welcomes eight new faces to the team. The expectation for the new group is that they will compete for playing time immediately.
 
Here's a position-by-position look at the Statesmen:
 
GOALTENDING:
 
"I'm very confident and comfortable with our goaltending. With junior Frank Oplinger returning, we have a quality goalie, a great competitor, quality person and a selfless teammate. He knows how to compete and win. He has already proven that he can be successful," said Taylor.
 
Oplinger played in 13 games last winter. He posted a 1.81 goals against average and a .936 save percentage, logging a 10-2-0 record. Senior Tim Keegan returns, and first-years Tim Sestak and Alexander Connal will also be competing for net time.
 
DEFENSE:
 
The Statesmen return a strong group on defense. Hobart finished 2015-16 leading the ECAC West and tied for fifth in the nation in scoring defense allowing just 1.86 goals per game. Seniors Jon Neal, Connor Simon, Mitch Beyer and Carl Belizario return. Belizario collected AHCA second team All-American, D3hockey.com second team All-Region, and All-ECAC West first team honors last year. He finished the season tied for second in the league in defensemen scoring with 14 points. Neal, one of Hobart's three captains, garnered All-ECAC West second team honors and collected D3hockey.com third team all-region recognition. He played in 27 games and posted nine assists. Beyer notched 10 points on four goals and six assists in 27 games, and Simon played in 26 games, recording seven points on two goals and five assists. Senior Michael Russo rounds out the Class of 2017 defensemen.
 
Sophomores Jack Macnee, Tanner Shaw, Jonas Toupal and Matt Pizzo also bring experience having logged lots of minutes in their rookie seasons. Shaw earned spots on the USCHO.com and the ECAC West All-Rookie teams. He played in 27 games, registering 11 points on five goals and six assists. Macnee played in 22 contests and dished out three assists. Toupal tallied seven points on two goals and five assists in 26 games. Pizzo played in 11 games and also logged three assists. First-years Colin Merrill, Julien Denicourt and CJ Valerian are the new faces on defense.
 
"We have serious expectations for this group on defense," said Taylor. "They are all back after a successful year. What will be most important for us is to not just expect what was. We should be starting at a higher level, but we still need to climb back to the same place faster and get to an even higher level."
 
FORWARD:
 
Four seniors are back at forward for the Statesmen. Bo Webster returns for his final year after an injury kept him off the ice last season. A tri-captain, Webster earned All-ECAC West second team honors in 2014-15 after leading Hobart with 25 points and 17 assists. Nick Bingaman, a tri-captain, played in 26 games last winter. He ranked second on the team with 15 assists and added eight goals. Bobby Sokol, one of three returners to play in all 28 games last year, ranked fourth on the team with 24 points on eight goals and 15 assists. Tyler Hanzlik played in four games last winter.
 
Junior Tyler Wolf is another veteran scoring presence for the Statesmen. He saw time in 25 games last year and added 16 points on 10 goals and six assists. Classmates Jordan Haskell, Andrew Silard and Vincent Russo also return. Haskell played in all 28 games and registered nine points on three goals and six assists, while Silard played in 25 games and posted five goals and eight assists. Russo played in 23 games and logged 15 points on four goals and 11 assists. Sophomores Cam Shaheen, Trevor Poirier and Brandon Bistodeau are primed to build on solid rookie seasons. Shaheen saw time in 19 games notching 11 points, Poirier added seven points in 19 games and Bistodeau chipped in six points in 13 games. Junior transfer Ben Greiner and first-years Zach Sternbach and Lawson MacDougall are the additions at forward.
 
"We did lose some great players to graduation, but that should happen every year when you have a program routinely competing at the national level. Now someone will need to step up and step in. We return a lot of forwards who played huge roles in our success last season. Some may not have shown in the stat sheet, but they were the engine and the wheels moving the bus," said Taylor.
 
SCHEDULE:
 
After opening weekend, the Statesmen jump right into league action, playing four ECAC West games on the road. Hobart travels to take on first-year members Lebanon Valley on Friday, Nov. 4 in Annville, Pa., and then Stevenson in Stevenson, Md., on Saturday, Nov. 5. The Statesmen then play at Manhattanville and at Neumann Nov. 11 and 12 before returning to The Cooler to host Nazareth and Utica Nov. 18 and 19. Hobart then plays nine non-conference games in December and January to round out 2016 and start the 2017 portion of its schedule.