GENEVA, N.Y.—The No. 7 Hobart College ice hockey team downed Elmira 7-1 in an ECAC West game played tonight in The Cooler. With the win, the Statesmen secured the No. 3 seed in the ECAC West tournament, and will host No. 6 Stevenson in The Cooler on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
 
Hobart is now 16-4-4 overall and 8-4-1 in conference play, while the Soaring Eagles fall to 8-15-1 overall and 3-10-1 in the ECAC West.
 
Fourteen Statesmen earned at least a point in the win. Junior Tyler Wolf and sophomore Jordan Haskell led Hobart with two assists each. Junior Frank Oplinger made 27 saves in 59:57 in goal for the Statesmen.
 
First-year Julien Denicourt put Hobart on the scoreboard just 1:33 into the contest. He collected a pass from Wolf and carried the puck into the offensive zone. Denicourt lifted his shot into the top right corner of the goal. It was his second goal this year. Haskell also earned an assist on the play. With 6:01 left in the first, junior Vincent Russo extended Hobart's lead to 2-0. He capitalized on a rebound off a shot by sophomore Trevor Poirier. Russo batted the puck out of the air for his seventh goal this season. Senior Mitch Beyer was also credited with an assist.
 
After hitting the crossbar in the last minute of the first period, Elmira got on the board 4:30 into the second. Matthew Cuce was crashing the net and was able to push in the rebound off a shot by Connor Powell. Spencer MacLean also earned an assist on the play. Despite the Soaring Eagles hitting the post again in the second, it was the Statesmen who notched two more goals to build a 4-1 lead. At 9:52 in, senior Carl Belizario blasted a shot from the blue line that clanged off the left post and across the goal line. It was his fourth goal of the season. Sophomore Tanner Shaw and first-year Lawson MacDougal earned the assists. With 3:52 left in the middle period, the Statesmen forced a turnover deep in their offensive zone, when the Elmira goaltender came out to play the puck behind the goal. Junior Ben Greiner was able to take it away and push a short pass to sophomore Cam Shaheen who scored on an open net. It was Shaheen's first goal this winter.
 
Senior Nick Bingaman opened the third period with his team-leading 15th goal this year just 1:17 in. Junior Jordan Haskell dished to Bingaman at the blue line, and he carried the puck in and slid his shot from right in front into the back of the net. Wolf earned an assist on the play. At 7:02, sophomore Jonas Toupal tallied his 10th goal of the season. The Soaring Eagles turned the puck over at the blue line, and Toupal beat the defenseman and capitalized on a one-on-one with the Elmira goaltender to make it 6-1. With 8:28 left in the game, senior Tyler Hanzlik scored his first career goal, a shorthanded tally, for the final margin.
 
Charl Pretorius played all 60 minutes in goal for Elmira and finished with 40 saves. The Statesmen held a 47-28 advantage in shots. Hobart finished 2-for-6 on the power play and killed all five of the Soaring Eagles power-play attempts.
 
The teams will meet again tomorrow, Feb. 19, at First Arena in downtown Elmira, N.Y., at 7 p.m.