Box Score GENEVA, N.Y. – Despite a career-high 33 saves from sophomore netminder Brian Fleming (Saint John, N.B./Northern Cyclones (AJHL)), the Manhattanville men's hockey team dropped its 2012-13 season opener to Hobart, ranked ninth in the latest USCHO.com Div. III National Poll and seventh in the preseason D3Hockey.com poll, by a 2-0 score in an ECAC West Conference contest on Friday night at the Geneva Recreation Center.
 
Fleming was excellent in goal for Manhattanville in just his second career start, turning aside 33 of the 35 shots that he faced from the nationally ranked Statesmen. But Hobart netminder Nick Broadwater stopped all 23 shots that came his way on the other end of the ice to earn the win.
 
The two teams were even in five-on-five play, but special teams played a big role in determining Friday's victor. Bobby Hannah scored both Hobart goals on the man advantage as the Statesmen went 2 for 7 in man-up situations, while Manhattanville could not score on any of its eight man-up opportunities.
 
The opening period did not see a score despite a combined 19 shots, the most promising of which came off the stick of junior Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont./Aurora Tigers (OPJHL)), who went on a breakaway against Broadwater but was denied. Hobart finished the first frame with an 11-8 edge in shots.
 
The Statesmen also posted a 10-5 shot advantage in the second stanza, but Fleming was up to the task and kept Hobart off the scoreboard for another 20 minutes. The Valiants, however, could not solve Broadwater either despite three power-play chances, and the two teams went into the third period still scoreless.
 
Hobart took advantage of two Valiant penalties to score the first goal of the game on a five-on-three power play at 5:35 of the third period. With one Valiant already in the box, a high-sticking minor went against the visitors and Hannah beat Fleming just 14 seconds later on the two-man advantage.
 
The penalty bug came back to bite the visitors again less than seven minutes later, when Hannah netted his second of the game on the man advantage at 12:21 to give the home team a two-goal lead, stuffing home the rebound of a Brad Richard shot.
 
The Valiants continued to press after the second goal, attempting to capitalize on two power-play chances and taking seven shots toward Broadwater's net, but Manhattanville could not light the lamp.
 
Manhattanville (0-1-0, 0-1-0 ECAC West) and Hobart (3-0-0, 1-0-0 ECAC West) will return to The Cooler tomorrow afternoon for the back end of the two-game weekend series starting at 4 p.m.