RYE, N.Y. – Hobart College scored three of its four second-period goals on the man advantage as the Statesmen, ranked fifth in both the USCHO.com and D3hockey.com Div. III National polls, managed a split of the weekend series with a 4-2 victory over the Manhattanville College men's hockey team in ECAC West Conference action on Saturday night at Playland Ice Casino.
 
Despite the loss, Manhattanville (11-11-1, 7-6-0 ECAC West) remains in second place in the conference standings thanks to Utica's 3-2 (OT) loss to Elmira. The Valiants, who clinched a top-three seed earlier in the day with Neumann's 4-1 loss to Nazareth, need one win in their final two regular season games to clinch second place and a first-round bye in the ECAC West Tournament.
 
Saturday's game was decided largely by special teams, with five of the six goals scored on man advantages. Hobart went 3 for 8 on the power play over the course of the night, while Manhattanville went 1 for 4 on the power play and also scored a shorthanded goal.
 
After killing off Hobart's first two man-up chances of the game, Hobart converted on its next two opportunities early in the second period to grab a lead. Trevor Poirier got Hobart on the board 58 seconds into the period, and Carl Belizario scored his first of the game at 5:04 on a fluky shot that deflected off a Valiant and wafted over the shoulder of freshman Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)) into the net.
 
Manhattanville finally got a chance at a power play less than three minutes later and made the most of that chance, as sophomore Charlie Ryde (Stockholm, Sweden/Flemingsbergs IK J20 (SWE)) fired a shot past Frank Oplinger at the 8:02 mark to get the home team back within one.
 
But that momentum came to a halt late in the period, with two Statesmen goals giving the visitors a comfortable edge. Tyler Wolf made it a 3-1 lead with 2:27 left on the game's only even-strength goal, and the back-breaker was a Belizario tally while skating 6-on-4 with 32 seconds left in the period.
 
The Valiants got one back in the first minute of the third period while still shorthanded, when freshman Nigel Slade (St. Catherine's, Ont./Niagara Falls Canucks (GOJHL)) surprised Oplinger with a shot directly off an offensive-zone draw that found the net for Slade's second goal of the year.
 
But that was it for goals on the evening for the Valiants, despite earning three power-play chances over the final 20 minutes. Manhattanville did not seriously threaten on its six minutes of power play, registering just three shots.
 
For the night, Hobart posted a 37-24 edge in shots. Feaver was busy for a second straight evening, making 33 saves, while Oplinger turned aside 22 shots at the other end.
 
The Valiants will play their final game of the regular season at Playland Ice Casino on Tuesday night, when Manhattanville and Elmira make up their January 23 game beginning at 8 p.m.