The Hobart Statesmen have established a new record for consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament with their seventh coming this year on an at-large bid. While the consistency has been remarkable, Hobart is looking to payoff their place in the tournament with a national championship and their coach Mark Taylor knows how hard that is to do.
“This is why we play in the toughest conference and play a challenging non-conference schedule,” said Taylor. “Of course, there is some disappointment when you get eliminated from your conference tournament but as long as you are playing at this time of the year, it is all good.”
Hobart won the regular season title in the NEHC before being upset in the conference tournament semifinals by Skidmore. At 19-5-2 overall, the Statesmen bring a game built on size and speed to challenge the best from any opponent. There is a deep and talented roster taking the ice on Saturday against conference rival Elmira, but coach Taylor knows it isn’t always about talent at this time of the year.
I have a lot of respect for Bill Beaney (former head coach of the eight-time national champion Middlebury Panthers),” stated Taylor. “He used to say that “you have to be good; you have to have your rhythm and you need to have a little luck.” I think in the past we didn’t have all of those things going for us but hopefully this year we can find all three and make a run.”
Hobart is led by a pair of book-end forwards in first-year player Luke Aquaro (15-16-31; +21) and senior captain Aaron Maguyon (14-14-28; +23) that showcase a dynamic group of forwards that can produce offense across all four lines. Blake Coffey (6-14-20; +10) leads an experienced defensive group that contributes greatly to the offense at even-strength and on the power play. Goaltending duties have been shared by Liam Lascelle and Joe Halstrom who have the confidence of their teammates. All of the pieces are there for Hobart to make a deep run.
The matchup with Elmira brings a familiar foe to the “The Cooler” on Saturday where the Soaring Eagles took a 5-4 overtime win over Hobart back on January 22. In that game Hobart rallied in the third period to tie the game at 4-4 before losing in the final 15 seconds of the overtime period.
“We beat them at their place the night before by a 2-0 score and played an overtime game at our place the next night,” said Taylor. “These are two really good teams, and I am just glad we are playing it in our building. We anticipate a great crowd and probably some of our football guys showing up without shirts to get the crowd amp’d up. We have been keeping things pretty normal with the practice schedule waiting find out who we would be playing but now it’s all about preparation for Saturday and finding ways to win a hockey game.”
