Boxscore

AMHERST, Mass. – After falling to Neumann University last weekend, barely squeaking by Western New England College on Tuesday, and with a pair of nationally ranked opponents up next, it looked like the Manhattanville men's hockey team might be starting a second straight late-November swoon.

That is definitely not the case.

The 11th-ranked Valiants quickly and forcefully put an end to that speculation on Friday night against 10th-ranked Amherst College, posting the most lopsided win over a nationally ranked team in over three years to the tune of a 5-0 non-conference victory at Orr Rink.

For Manhattanville, the five-goal win is tied for the second-largest margin of victory over a nationally ranked team in 11 years as a varsity program, tying the 7-2 win over #3 Rochester Institute of Technology on December 7, 2002 and behind only the 10-0 thrashing of #8 Hobart College on January 20, 2007.

It was a completely dominating effort for the visitors against the Lord Jeffs, as the Valiants were in control was start to finish and never allowed the home team to get into the game. Sophomore Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa.) led all players with a pair of goals for the second straight game, while junior Marcus von Sydow (Stockholm, Sweden) and senior assistant captain Mickey Lang (Reno, Nev.) both had a goal and an assist and sophomore Derek Serdachny (Yorkton, Sask.) tallied a pair of helpers.

On the other end of the ice, junior Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que.) had a flawless game in goal for the Valiants, stopping all 28 shots he faced. With the sixth shutout of his career, Lemieux ties All-American Andrew Gallant '08 for first place on the school's all-time shutouts list.

For the game, Amherst was credited with a 28-27 edge in shots on goal, but that tally does not reflect the tremendous possession advantage of the Valiants and the ease with which the visitors were able to shred the Lorf Jeff defense.

Manhattanville got the scoring started 6:30 into the opening frame, when junior assistant captain Evan Michalchuk (Edmonton, Alta.) netted his fourth of the year. Michalchuk took a feed from fellow assistant captain Lang on the doorstep of Amherst goalie Cole Anderson and found the net to put the Valiants up early.

The Valiants kept the Lord Jeffs without many great chances for the remainder of the frame, killing off one power play and getting a little help when an Amherst shot rang off the outside of the post with three minutes left in the period.

Soon after the fortuitous bounce, the visitors capitalized on some nice transition offense to double their lead with 24.4 seconds left in the period. Sophomore Ron Smith (North Delta, B.C.) started the rush and fired a high shot off the blocker of Anderson that trickled into the corner, and the forward was the first to the puck and fed it back to the blue line for von Sydow. With nobody within skating distance in the middle of the ice, the blueliner simply reared back and fired a blast that beat Anderson over the shoulder for his second of the year.

After little action for the first seven minutes of the second stanza, the Valiants had another great chance to advance their lead with 1:35 of five-on-three play thanks to a pair of Lord Jeff penalties. While it took nearly the entire time, Manhattanville finally capitalized on its sustained possession and crisp passing with two seconds left on the two-man advantage, as Lang took passes from freshman Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont.) and Serdachny at the inside of the left circle and fired it into a vacated near side of the cage for his eighth of the year at 8:49.

Manhattanville left the door open midway through the second period with a five-minute major; however, even then the oft-maligned Valiant penalty kill unit had a nearly flawless five minutes to keep the Lord Jeffs not only off the board but barely in the offensive zone. The Valiants then struck again in the final minute of play, as Skalski took a pass from Serdachny and glided through the slot before picking the top corner with 47.5 seconds left on the clock.

After two periods, Amherst was credited with an 18-16 edge in total shots, but that did not tell the story as Manhattanville was clearly the dominant team and kept the Lord Jeffs on their heels.

The offensive onslaught continued in the third period, when Skalski registered his second straight multi-goal game by finding the net again at the 7:36 mark. This time von Sydow feathered a pass up the left side and sprung the sophomore for a breakaway attempt down the left boards, and he beat Anderson high to the blocker side from the left faceoff dot.