RYE, N.Y. – Third-seeded Hobart College, ranked sixth in Division III in this week's USCHO.com and D3hockey.com national polls, scored five of the game's first six goals on the way to a 6-2 victory over the second-seeded Manhattanville College men's hockey team in the ECAC West Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday night at Playland Ice Casino.
 
Hobart (19-4-4) advances to the ECAC West championship game, where the Statesmen will face off with top-seeded Utica College, who defeated fifth-seeded Neumann University by a 4-3 score in the other semifinal on Saturday night.
 
Manhattanville (14-11-1) received goals from sophomore Axel Walltott (Stockholm, Sweden/Varmdo HC J20 (SWE)) and junior Stephen Gaul (Downers Grove, Ill./Springfield Pics (USPHL)), but it was not enough to withstand a potent Hobart offense.
 
The first period belonged to the visitors, as Hobart struck early and then added another score to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Jonas Toupal opened the scoring 33 seconds into the first and only power-play chance of the opening frame, beating sophomore Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)) from a tough angle at the 2:45 mark. Lawson MacDougall doubled the Statesmen lead at 8:50 by redirecting a shot from the point by Jon Neal to give the visitors a two-goal edge.
 
Manhattanville showed its first sign of life in the first minute of the second period, when Walltott scored his second of the year only 24 seconds into the stanza. But the Valiants took another penalty 65 seconds later and it took Nick Bingaman only 15 seconds to convert his team-leading 18th goal of the year to regain the visitors' two-goal lead. Hobart added two more later in the period to take a commanding 5-1 lead into the final period.
 
Gaul gave the home crowd a little life when he potted his seventh of the year at 7:49 of the third off a long outlet pass from sophomore Oscar Arfelt (Stockholm, Sweden/Connecticut Oilers (EHL)), but the Valiants could not get any closer despite playing with an extra skater for the final 3:38 of the game.
 
Special teams played a big role for both teams, as the Statesmen scored on their first two power-play chances to establish momentum early while the Valiants went scoreless on four man advantages. Feaver made 27 saves for Manhattanville while Frank Oplinger turned aside 32 shots for the visitors.
 
Manhattanville has its season come to a close with the defeat, as does the careers of the Valiants' five seniors – co-captains Teagan Waugh (Nanaimo, B.C./Powell River Kings (BCHL)) and Nolan Marshall (Drumheller, Alta./Camrose Kodiaks (AJHL)), assistant captain Adam Platt (Trumbull, Conn./Springfield Pics (USPHL)), Tanner Hicks (Calgary, Alta./Brooks Bandits (AJHL)) and Phil Dinner (Dallas, Texas/Connecticut Oilers (EJHL)). The Valiants are slated to return four of their top five scorers from this season in 2017-18, as the team begins a new chapter in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference.