It was an up and down weekend for the ECAC West. Elmira suffered through the worst of the weekend, dropping an overtime game at Brockport and losing to Geneseo. Rumored illness might have caused some of the trouble for the Soaring Eagles’ stumble before the holidays.
Elmira is now 2-5 outside of the league, which could mean an uphill battle when Pool C bids are handed out at the end of the season.
Neumann put a thumping on Morrisville, sweeping the weekend series for the first time ever between these two teams. The Knights beat Morrisville 5-0 on Friday, then whipped them 11-4 Saturday. Steve Gervais, Scott Farrell, William Lacasse, and Cory Park all scored two goals and an assist, while Jordan Zalba added four assists during Saturday’s scorefest.
Utica also swept through the weekend. The Pioneers outlasted Potsdam 1-0 in a goaltender duel. Utica put 43 shots on goal against the Bears, while Nich Therrien saved all 30 shots that he faced.
The Pioneers’ offense broke out on Saturday, scoring 12 goals from 56 shots against Salve Regina. The most thrilling sight all night was watching 4,000 fans throw teddy bears on the ice after Utica’s first goal of the game in the annual charity toss at The Aud.
Manhattanville split its weekend series, starting out with a 5-1 victory against Trinity. Brendan Turner and Brian Elser both scored a pair of goals in the game to lead the Valiants’ offense.
Playing three games in five days finally caught up with Manhattanville on Saturday. The Valiants took a 1-0 lead in the first period off a goal from Chris Simchuk, but then ran out of gas, as Wesleyan scored the next four goals of the game. Manhattanville couldn’t get the legs moving and fell, 4-1.
Hobart lost a nail-biter in its only game of the weekend. The Statesmen scored a goal early in the third period to tie the game 1-1 at Oswego, but then fell behind again about six minutes later. Hobart got a power play with 2:12 left in the game and pulled goaltender Martin Ausserhofer with 31 seconds remaining, but couldn’t get the equalizer and fell, 2-1.
