D-III Men’s Week in Review: Hobart Keeps Rolling, Water Leaks, Upsets, & a Trip to Wisconsin!

Hobart holds the reins against the Thoroughbreds & continue their masterclass run

The #1 Hobart Statesmen (18-0-0) have continued to roll along as most everyone expected this season, remaining unbeaten. Most recently, the Statesmen were tested for the first time in a while as they visited Skidmore on Saturday night for an old NEHC rematch on the olympic-size ice sheet in Saratoga Springs, NY. Prior to their close game against the Thoroughbreds, they outscored opponents 80-13 in their last 13 games… the only games that were a smaller margin than three goals, date all the way back to their home/home weekend with #8 Utica University (12-5-0) when Hobart defeated Utica 6-5 in overtime in the Aud & then 2-1 two days later in The Cooler in the rematch of the 2025 National Championship.

Some may say it’s good the Statesmen were tested with Skidmore as the lone goal came with just about five minutes remaining in the game (Adam Ondris – 15:31), but in my opinion this team time and time again, year after year, has shown no signs of slowing down and they’ve come back when they’ve needed to. Granted, they haven’t needed to make comebacks very often, but when they have, most notably against Trine in the NCAA quarterfinals last season, Utica earlier this season, Utica in the National Championship last season, & now Skidmore, the Statesmen simply find a way to win with this incredible senior class of players.

This season the Statesmen have shown a weakness, but it’s easily avoidable. Goaltender Damon Beaver makes it nearly impossible to beat Hobart as he’s put up arguably the greatest four year stretch for a goaltender in Division III history. Currently, Beaver’s stats are this through 3.5 seasons (via elite prospects):

70 GP
65-4-1 record
.955 save %
1.01 GAA
3 National Championships

The potential weakness that does lie within Hobart comes when Beaver doesn’t play. Maverick Goyer has had some great games this season, such as his recent shutout over Skidmore as we mentioned, but there’s also been some worrying performances earlier this year. Against Utica, Goyer gave up four goals on only 12 shots, getting pulled for Beaver in the 6-5 overtime win. Then, he also surrendered three goals on five shots against SUNY Potsdam in the 6-4 victory where Connor Shibley had to come in for relief. Goyer’s game against Skidmore was the first game in which his team didn’t score at least six goals… quite easy for any goaltender win when that offense is in front of you, but nevertheless, this game is a good sign for Maverick as it was his best game of the season by far, making 20 saves on 20 shots and not having a six goal safety net. If Beaver is in net, you’re going to need to play a perfect game to beat them, if Goyer is in net, we’ve seen there’s been ample opportunity to potentially pounce early on.

The Statesmen have a pretty easy road the rest of the way outside of #4 Oswego State (13-2-2) who have had their own struggles recently, falling down 4-1 against their rival Plattsburgh and winning 5-4, falling 4-1 down to Nazareth and ending in a 4-4 tie, & slipping past SUNY Fredonia by a slim 3-2 margin. We’ll see if the Lakers can make it a game in The Cooler as they’re one of the only teams to beat Hobart in the last three seasons. The Lakers handed the Statesmen a loss back in 2023 in Oswego. In the last ten games, Hobart holds a record of 7-3-0 in the last 10 matchups despite Oswego owning the all-time series record of 36-12-3 dating back to 1982.

Water leaks cause a unique situation in Milwaukee

This isn’t necessarily a game and/or series recap, but more of a highlight on a unique situation that occurred this past weekend during the #5 St. Norbert & MSOE series that was supposed to be a game in De Pere on Friday & Milwaukee on Saturday. Instead, Friday’s game was moved to Sunday at 6pm CT, presumably due to extreme weather conditions in the Midwest (this is true, I was there through it all…). Here’s a rundown of the events that occurred:

Friday: (AT St. Norbert)
-MSOE @ St. Norbert rescheduled to Sunday at 6pm CT
Saturday: (AT MSOE)
-St. Norbert @ MSOE suspended after the 1st period due to water leaks in the facility onto the playing surface, SNC led 2-0.
-Game is suspended and it’s declared it cannot be finished tonight, rescheduled for Sunday in De Pere.
Sunday: (AT St. Norbert)
-9:25am CT: puck drop to finish the remaining 2 periods of yesterday’s contest in which SNC leads 2-0 after the 1st period.
-St. Norbert wins game one 5-2.
-6pm CT: puck drop for the rescheduled Friday game at St. Norbert. SNC blows out MSOE 9-0.

So, in this home/home series, St. Norbert had five of six periods played on their home ice and got the sweep. I’m curious how this affects the NPI ratings as they technically got more periods on home ice than away… but it was a scheduled home/home series. We’ll have to see how that plays out, but just an interesting weekend overall for these two teams as I’m sure something like this is quite a rarity in the sport. I’m not positive on the ruling of this in NPI terms.

A few upsets shake things up out East!

We’ll highlight a few games here with some brief recaps as they were significant outcomes considering were this late in the year.

Roger Williams ties Endicott 1-1 & wins the shootout!

The inaugural program Roger Williams (6-12-1) made some noise this past weekend against the #9 Endicott Gulls (13-2-2) who were coming off their huge weekend split against #7 University of New England (13-5-0).

In the game against the Gulls, RWU goaltender Jacob Jaslow made an incredible 59 saves on 60 shots to keep his team in the game the whole way. Jaslow continued his efforts with a shootout win of 1-0. The Hawks got on the board first as they scored a quick two minutes into the 1st period (Jacob Kettwig – 2:20) and then the Gulls tied it up about halfway through the 3rd period (Louie Kamienski – 9:14).

Currently RWU sits 5th in the CNE standings but have played three more games than Johnson & Wales who sit only one point behind them and they’ve played two more games than Nichols who sits a mere two points behind them. The Hawks will need to do some work if they want to make the top six for a playoff spot in their inaugural season.

Endicott on the other hand remains 4th place with a game-in-hand over Curry & UNE and two games-in-hand over Suffolk, so they can still make their charge for the top spot as the season winds down and playoff time arises.

Elmira cracks the Ice Knights’ armor once again

This season, Elmira (4-13-0) has had one to forget for the most part, sitting at 4-13-0 and being outscored 46-75. However, historically speaking, the Soaring Eagles have owned SUNY Geneseo regardless of their season performance as a whole. Elmira leads the all-time record between these two 44-11-2 and 14-4-1 in their last 19 games, dating back to 2006. This took place during the six-year run of Geneseo’s dominance in their longtime SUNYAC conference, winning five of six SUNYAC titles from 2016-2022.

During this past weekend’s series, the Soaring Eagles defeated the Ice Knights 4-3 as they got out to a 3-0 lead just before the halfway point of the 2nd period. Geneseo scored a trio in the 3rd, but it wasn’t enough and Elmira pulled off the upset. On Saturday night, the Ice Knights got one back and defeated Elmira by the same score, 4-3.

Geneseo (11-6-1) has shown some concerning signs this season, they now face Chatham this coming weekend and then Utica later this season. They are likely out of at-large bid territory and will need to win the UCHC title if they want to head back to the NCAA tournament as they have the last six of seven seasons which includes two Frozen Fours (’19 & ’22). In Head Coach Chris Schultz’ career, he’s made six NCAA tournaments, along with four Frozen Four appearances (’14, ’16, ’19, ’22).

A trip to Wisconsin!

For someone that prior to 2023 had never been east of Ohio, it’s crazy to think I’ve gotten the opportunity to travel west as much as I have in these past few years and to that I’ll say I’m more grateful than ever to have experienced as much as I have in such a short period of time.

It started back in 2023 when I visited Adrian, MI for their NCAA quarterfinal playoff game vs Wisconsin-Stevens Point with the logistical help of former HC Adam Krug. Then the following season, I was given an incredible opportunity to visit Stevens Point, WI for their family & friends weekend against Saint Mary’s & St. Olaf of the MIAC with the help of HC Tyler Krueger. That same year I ended back up in Adrian for their NCAA quarterfinal game which happened to be against UW-Stevens Point once again. The following year, I decided to venture back to Adrian for their huge rivalry weekend series against St. Norbert College. Near the end of that season, I had another incredible opportunity to visit Eau Claire, WI for their women’s hockey game against #1 Wisconsin-River Falls with the help of former HC Erik Strand.

Now, this season I’ve gotten to continue this trend to which I’m incredibly grateful for. Earlier this season with the help of HC Tyler Walsh, I got to visit Saint Peter, MN and experience Gustavus Adolphus for a home/home with St. Olaf College. I stopped to see Augsburg & Hamline while out there as well. I got to see Bethel when I was out that way in the spring for a few weeks, so I didn’t venture over there this particular time.

Most recently, I got to return to my favorite rink in all of Division III hockey, K.B. Willett Arena in Stevens Point, WI for their home/home with the red-hot #14 Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils. Speaking of red hot, we could’ve used some heat as the wind chills this past weekend neared the mid-low -40s in Menomonie, WI and the -20s to -30s in Stevens Point…

Throughout being awake for about 29 hours straight from Saturday to Sunday and changing return flights (made it in time before the airport closed by about two hours), it was all worth it and I can’t thank everyone enough for making things such as this possible. I’d also like to thank our sponsors Wallkill Group & The AI CEO for contributing to this journey.

This write up isn’t exactly a recap, but the weekend ended in a split as #14 UW-Stout won 2-1 in overtime on night one in Menomonie, while UW-Stevens Point won 3-1 the following night back in Stevens Point…

Once again, I’ll always cherish things such as this as it was never the original intention when this all started, but the state of Wisconsin will always be a special place for me, coming from someone from Upstate, NY, growing up around SUNYAC hockey, primarily Oswego State in the early 2010s. For that, I thank you once again.