GENEVA, N.Y.—The top-ranked Hobart hockey team cruised to an 8-0 victory over the University of Southern Maine in a New England Hockey Conference contest at The Cooler this evening. With the win, the Statesmen clinched the NEHC regular season title for the fourth straight year.
 
Senior Shane Shell led Hobart with three points, recording a goal and two assists in the win. He was one of six Statesmen to finish with multi-point games. Junior Mavrick Goyer stopped all 16 shots he faced as he earned his fifth shutout of the season.
 
Kyle Penton started in goal for the Huskies and made 50 saves.
 
FOR THE RECORD

• With the win, Hobart is now 20-1-0 overall this season with a 15-1-0 mark in the NEHC. The Statesmen are the first team in Division III to 20 wins.
• Southern Maine falls to 5-15-1 overall with a 2-13-1 mark in conference play.

 
STREAKING

• With today's win, Hobart has now won 47 straight games at The Cooler.
• Junior Tanner Daniels has recorded at least one point in 10 straight games.

 
SCORING SUMMARY

• The Statesmen opened the scoring at the 14:09 mark of the first period. Junior Kahlil Fontana one-timed a centering pass from junior Chris Duclair for his eighth goal of the season. Graduate student Austin Mourar added an assist on the goal.
• Seventy-three seconds later senior Luke Aquaro gave Hobart a 2-0 lead with his 12th goal of the season. A carbon copy of Fontana's goal, Aquaro slipped a cross-ice pass from Daniels past Penton. Shell had an assist on the goal.
• Sophomore Dominic Schimizzi made it 3-0 just over six minutes into the second period. Following an offensive zone faceoff, he wristed a shot over Penton's blocker and into the upper right corner of the cage. His sixth goal of the season was assisted by junior Ignat Belov and senior Ethan Mulhearn.
• Four minutes later, Shell collected his sixth goal of the season. He collected a pass from Aquaro, deked around two defenders, waited for Penton to commit and flipped a shot over the goalie. Sophomore Conor Lally also had an assist on the tally.
• Daniels gave Hobart a 5-0 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the middle stanza. He wristed a shot just under the crossbar. His 14th goal of the season was assisted by first-year Calum Chau and senior Cooper Swift.
• Hobart tacked on three goals in the third period. First-year Adam Mendelson had two of the three tallies. His third goal of the season was assisted by senior Matthew Perryman and junior Tristan Fasig and gave the Statesmen a 6-0 lead.
• Mourar notched his seventh goal of the season at the 12:35 mark of the final period. The power-play goal was assisted by Swift and Shell.
• Mendelson tacked on his fourth goal of the season with three seconds remaining in regulation.

 
 
CLIMBING THE LADDER

• With two more points tonight, Aquaro now has 127 for his career. He is fifth on Hobart's career points list, four behind Dana Angelo '90.
• Aquaro's 66 goals are also fourth, four behind Scott Liming '83. His 61 assists are tied for eighth with Brian Duffett '90.
• Shell now has 59 career assists. He moves up to 11th on Hobart's all-time list.
• Goyer's five shutouts this season are fourth on Hobart's single-season list, one behind his six from last year.  

 
UP NEXT
Hobart will continue its four-game homestand next weekend, Feb. 14-15, when it welcomes New England College to The Cooler. Next weekend will serve as alumni weekend for the Statesmen.