The top-seeded Hobart hockey team begins its defense of the Mariano Cup when it returns to The Cooler this Saturday, Feb. 17, for the first round of New England Hockey Conference Tournament. The Statesmen will host the eighth-seed Vermont State University Castleton in a quarterfinal contest. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
It will be the second game of a quarterfinal doubleheader at The Cooler. William Smith also takes on the Spartans at 1 p.m. Hobart has reached the conference championship game in four of their five seasons in the league, winning the title twice.
 
The Statesmen wrapped up the regular season with a 22-2-1, overall record and a 16-1-1 mark in NEHC play. Hobart finished the regular season on an eight-game win streak that included victories over Castleton and then No. 13 Skidmore.
 
Castleton (7-18-0, 4-14-0) clinched the eighth seed in the conference tournament, finishing the regular season with 12 points. The Spartans wrapped up the regular season losing to the Statesmen and Elmira and snuck into the tournament when Johnson & Waleslost on the final day of the regular season.
 
ABOUT THE STATESMEN

• Sophomore forward Tanner Hartman leads Hobart with 23 assists and 39 points.
• He is tied with classmate Ignat Belov for the team lead with 16 goals. Belov is second on the team with 34 points.
• The Statesmen have eight players with 20 or more points this season and 17 with 10 or more.
• Sophomores Damon Beaver and Mavrick Goyer have split time in net for the Statesmen. Beaver is 12-1-1 with a GAA of 0.99 and a .962 save percentage. Goyer is 9-1-0 with a 0.91 GAA and a .947 save percentage. They have combined for 11 shutouts.

 
NATIONAL NUMBERS

• Hobart enters the weekend first in the nation in winning percentage (.900), scoring offense (5.40), scoring defense (0.96), scoring margin (+4.44) and penalty-killing percentage (.962). The Statesmen have allowed a mere three power-play goals through 25 games this season. In addition, Hobart is sixth in power-play percentage (.281).
• Goyer and Beaver are second and third in the nation in GAA, respectively. Beaver is second in save percentage while Goyer is fifth.
• Hartman is fifth in the nation in points per game (1.56), sixth in assists per game (0.92) and 19th in goals per game. First-year Bauer Morrissey is ninth in the nation in assists per game (0.90) and Belov is 10th in points per game (1.42).

 
ABOUT THE SPARTANS

• Castleton is led by Andrew Stefura. He has an NEHC-leading 17 goals. Stefura is fourth in the league with 28 points.
• Bryce Irwin leads the Spartans with 18 assists and is second with 24 points.
• Goaltender Dominic Rodrigue plays the majority of the minutes in goal for the Spartans. He is 4-11-0 with a 4.23 GAA and a .886 save percentage.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Saturday will be the 15th meeting between the Statesmen and the Spartans.
• Hobart leads the all-time series 14-0-0, including a mark of 7-0-0 in Geneva.
• This is the second straight year the teams will meet in the quarterfinal round of the NEHC tournament.
• Last weekend, the Statesmen defeated the Spartans 6-3. Six different skaters scored in the win. Junior Shane Shell (1g, 2a) had three points to lead the way for Hobart. Goyer made 23 saves in goal for the Statesmen.