For the fourth straight week, the Hobart College hockey team was ranked fifth in the USCHO.com poll. The Statesmen will be back at The Cooler this Saturday, Feb. 29, when they welcome New England College, which is receiving votes in the USCHO poll, for a New England Hockey Conference semifinal. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
Additionally, Hobart is ranked third in the PairWise rankings, up one spot from last week. PairWise is a system which attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA selection committee to determine participants for the NCAA Division III hockey tournament. The Pilgrims are ranked 18th.
 
The Statesmen advanced to the semifinals with a 4-2 victory over Skidmore Saturday. Four different players scored goals for Hobart. Senior Zach Sternbach led the way with a goal and an assist. Sophomore Liam Lascelle started in goal and made 19 saves. New England College, which is the No. 4 seed, advanced to the semifinals with a 4-1 win over UMass Boston.
 
Norwich, the No. 1 seed will host No. 7 seed Southern Maine in the other semifinal.
 
Hobart enters the weekend with a 19-4-3 overall record. The Statesmen are sixth in the nation in winning percentage (.788), seventh in scoring offense (4.31 gpg), seventh in scoring margin (+2.08), 10th on the penalty kill (87.1%) and 13th in scoring defense (2.23). Hobart has scored 112 goals this season, only six teams have more this season. Hobart has spread the wealth around, utilizing its entire roster to accumulate 296 points. Twenty-two different players have scored a goal, 23 have an assist, and 24 have recorded a point. Sixteen players have hit double digits in points and four have tallied 20 this season.
 
Seniors Zach Sternbach (11g, 11a) and Lawson MacDougall (7g, 5a) lead the team with 22 points each. Junior Alec Robitaille has a team best 12 goals and junior Mike Faulkner has 20 assists.
 
Since Jan. 1, Lascelle and fellow sophomore Joe Halstrom have split minutes in goal. Lascelle is 7-1-0 with a 1.83 goals against average and a .925 save percentage. Halstrom is 6-0-2 with a 2.80 GAA and a .889 save percentage.
 
New England College brings a 17-8-1 overall record into the weekend. The Pilgrims are averaging 4.15 goals per game while allowing 2.96.  NEC is led offensively by the Carlos Fornaris (9g, 32a) and Nikkita Pintusov (25g, 15a) who have 40-plus points each. They are first and second, respectively in the NEHC in points. Fornaris leads the conference in assists and Pintusov leads in goals. Anthony Pupplo has played a majority of the minutes in goal. He is 16-8-1 with a 3.03 GAA and a .901 save percentage.
 
Saturday's game will be the ninth meeting between Hobart and New England College. The Statesmen lead the all-time series 5-2-1, including a 4-0-0 mark at The Cooler. The teams split the meetings this season. On Dec. 6, the Pilgrims won 4-3 in Henniker, N.H., thanks to a three-goal second period. On Feb. 8, Hobart collected a 3-2 win at The Cooler. The Statesmen and Pilgrims have met once in the postseason. Hobart defeated NEC 4-1 last year in the quarterfinals of the NEHC tournament.
 
Fans who cannot be in attendance for Saturday's game can follow all the action with HWS All-Access Video and Live Stats. The game will be broadcast on WHWS-FM (105.7).