RUTLAND, Vt.—Junior forward Jonah Alexander scored a pair of goals as the second-ranked Hobart College ice hockey team defeated Castleton 5-1 in a New England Hockey Conference contest at Spartan Arena this afternoon. With their fourth-straight victory, the Statesmen now have a program record tying 21 wins this season.
 
Junior Matthieu Wuth (1g, 1a), sophomore Luke Aquaro (2a) and graduate student Zach Tyson (1g, 1a) joined Alexander with multi-point games for Hobart (21-2-0, 14-2-0). First-year Graham Burke made 26 saves as he picked up his second victory. Brandon Collett played all 60 minutes in goal for the Spartans (7-16-0, 5-10-0). He made 40 saves.
 
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

• Hobart outshot Castleton 45-27.
• The Statesmen were 1-for-3 on the power play and the Spartans were 1-for-8 with the extra attacker.

 
NOTEWORTHY

• This is the fifth time that Hobart has won 21 games in a season.
• This season is the first time that a Statesmen team reached 21 victories before the conference tournament.

 
SCORING SUMMARY

• Hobart opened the scoring with seven seconds remaining in the first period. Alexander collected a pass in the right faceoff circle, deked around a defender and slipped a shot past Collett. His 12th goal of the season was assisted by junior Gagik Malakyan and Wuth.
• First-year Ignat Belov extended the lead to two goals at the 15:31 mark of the middle frame. He one-timed a shot from the low slot past the goalie. His 10th goal of the season was assisted by Tanner Hartman and Aquaro.
• Wuth gave Hobart a three-goal lead with one minute remaining in the second period. He blasted a shot from the point through traffic and into the back of the net. Junior Jared Patterson and Tyson picked up assists on Wuth's power-play goal.
• Alexander added his team-leading 13th goal of the season just over eight minutes into the third period. Entering the offensive zone, he spun around a defender and wired a backhand over Collett's glove. It was a shorthanded tally.
• Three minutes later, Tyson picked up his ninth goal of the season. He trickled a shot past Collett for his ninth goal of the year. Aquaro and senior Brenden Howell notched assists on the goal.
• The Spartans broke up the shutout bid with under three minutes remaining in regulation. Romeo Torain flipped a shot from the left faceoff circle past Burke. The power-play goal was his first of the season.

 
COACH'S CORNER
"It was a very good character focused weekend," Head Coach Mark Taylor said. "Excellent goaltending , good team defense and worked our process and scored couple beauties as bonus."


UP NEXT
Hobart will be back in action next weekend, Feb. 10-11, when it wraps up the regular season against Norwich University and New England College. Faceoff against the Cadets is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.