GENEVA, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's hockey team started strong on Friday night against Hobart College, but the momentum did not last as the Statesmen came back with six unanswered goals to pick up a 6-1 victory over the Valiants in both teams' 2015-16 ECAC West Conference opener at the Geneva Recreation Center.
 
Manhattanville (2-1-0, 0-1-0 ECAC West) suffers its first loss of the season with the defeat, while Hobart (1-1-1, 1-0-0 ECAC West) earns its first victory of the young season.
 
The Valiants came out flying to begin the night, taking eight of the game's first nine shots and scoring the first goal of the contest. The second of those eight shots found the back of the net courtesy of freshman Jeff Beck (Broomall, Pa./Philadelphia Junior Flyers (EHL)), who scored for the second straight game by beating Lino Chimienti off feeds from junior Adam Platt (Trumbull, Conn./Springfield Jr. Pics (USPHL)) and sophomore Anthony Ragone (Babylon, N.Y./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) to put the visitors ahead early.
 
Hobart regained its footing after going on the defensive early, knotting the score on a Trevor Poirier tally at the midway point of the period and keeping momentum going its way with a power-play opportunity. However, Manhattanville killed off the man-down situation and the pace evened out soon after that, with the Statesmen finishing the frame with a slight 13-12 edge in shots.
 
It was the home team that came out strong in the second period, quickly taking its first lead of the game on a Tyler Wolf shot that got past senior Kurt Williams (Rocky Mountain House, Alta./Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)) just 42 seconds into the middle period. The Statesmen continued to increase their lead throughout the middle frame, scoring two more times to take a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
 
Hobart added two more in the third period against sophomore Kyle Redmond (Toronto, Ont./Northfield Mount Hermon), who made his collegiate debut in the third period for Manhattanville.
 
The Statesmen finished the night with a 37-33 edge in shots, including a 36-25 advantage over the game's final 52 minutes. Williams made 22 saves on 26 shots over the first 40 minutes of play to suffer the loss, while Redmond stopped nine of the 11 shots he faced over the final 20 minutes.

After a good start to the season last weekend, the Valiant power play went scoreless in four opportunities on Friday and also ceded a shorthanded goal in the final frame. The penalty kill went a perfect 3-for-3 as well for the visitors.
 
Manhattanville will look to get back on track tomorrow night, when the Valiants travel south to Pine Valley for a 7 p.m. faceoff with fellow ECAC West rival Elmira College.