GENEVA, NY - The Cortland men's hockey team dropped a 5-2 result at three-time defending national champion and nationally top-ranked Hobart on Friday evening in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action. Cortland drops to 7-6-1 (4-2-1 SUNYAC), while Hobart moves to 13-0-0 (6-0-0 SUNYAC).

Garrett Krieger (Skaneateles/Utica Jr. Comets) scored a goal and added an assist for the Red Dragons. Morley Phillips (Raleigh, NC/Amarillo Wranglers) also scored a goal for Cortland, and Justin Legault (Oakville, ON/Burlington Cougars) provided an assist. Shane Shelest (Pointe-Claire, QC/Wellington Dukes) stopped 28 shots and allowed four goals for the Red Dragons. 

Kahlil Fontana scored a pair of goals for Hobart, while Tanner Daniels chipped in a goal and an assist. Tamas Toth and Easton Ryan each added a goal, and Damon Beaver stopped 21 shots to earn the victory in goal.

Hobart held a 2-0 lead after one period of play, and outshot the Red Dragons by a 9-3 margin in the opening frame. Fontana found himself in front of goal, and ripped a wrist shot past Shelest just after the midway point. Two minutes later, Fontana scored his second goal of the night on a breakaway to double the Statesmen's advantage. 

Cortland pulled to within a goal in the opening two minutes of the second period. Krieger won a faceoff in the Cortland offensive zone to the left of Beaver, and the sophomore immediately fired a shot into the top left corner of the net for his fifth goal of the season to make it 2-1.

The Statesmen re-established a two-goal lead with just over six minutes left in the period on a power-play goal by Daniels after a slashing penalty on the Red Dragons. Hobart added a fourth goal with under five minutes remaining in the second period on a goal by Toth to take a 4-1 lead.
 
The Red Dragons answered with a goal in the final minute of action in the second period, as Krieger sent a pass to Legault behind the Hobart defense. Legault collected the puck, skated behind the Hobart goal, and slipped a feed from below the goal line to Phillips in front for a shot into the right side of the net for Phillips' third goal of the season.
 
Cortland looked to pull back to within a goal in the third period, as Hobart committed five minor penalties in the final period, but the Red Dragons could not capitalize on any of its opportunities on the power play. 

With under two minutes remaining, Ryan capped the scoring for the Statesmen with an empty-net goal to secure the 5-2 victory.