Boxscore

POTSDAM, N.Y. – Tied at three entering the third period, the 10th-ranked Manhattanville men's hockey team took the lead on the power play and then sealed the game on the penalty kill in earning a 5-3 victory over SUNY Potsdam in game one of a non-conference weekend series on Friday night at the Maxcy Hall Ice Arena.

After the Valiants lost a one-goal lead on three separate occasions in the first 40 minutes of play, Manhattanville went ahead for good 6:22 into the third period, when freshman Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont.) netted the first goal of his career on the power play. Assists on the game-winner went to senior Sasha Romanenko (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and junior Dillon O'Hara (Wallingford, Conn.), as the Valiants connected on the man advantage for the seventh straight game.

Later in the period, Potsdam went on the power play and went searching for the equalizer, but instead it was junior assistant captain Evan Michalchuk (Edmonton, Alta.) turning the tables, forcing a turnover and going in all alone for a big shorthanded tally at the 16:06 mark, which helped to put the game away for the visitors.

VanNatter and Michalchuk were two of five different Valiants to find the net on Friday night, as sophomore Brendan Turner (Tisdale, Sask.) and freshmen Brian Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) and Marc Zanoni (Lethbridge, Alta.) also scored for Manhattanville – the first collegiate goals for all three players as well. Romanenko and senior assistant captain Mickey Lang (Reno, Nev.) tied for the game-high with two points apiece, both coming via a pair of assists.

The special teams goals helped propel the Valiants to the victory after the visitors had a one-goal lead on three different occasions only to have the home team come back and knot the score each time. Zanoni opened the scoring just 3:14 into the contest, taking passes from Romanenko and sophomore Jason Bowles (Elkhorn, Man.) and beating Potsdam goalie Trevor O'Neill for the first goal of his career.

After the teams went into the first intermission knotted at one, Manhattanville came back again 6:27 into the second period on Elser's first career tally, which was assisted by Lang and freshman Eric Defelice (Chalfont, Pa.). A five-on-three score by Potsdam's Colin MacLennan tied the game back up at two at 11:49, but it took Turner less than two minutes to get his team back on top for a third time, continuing the string of first collegiate goals at 13:41 off a pass from Lang.

The Bears' Kevin MacLellan notched a power-play tally of his own to send the teams into the third period tied at three, but VanNatter and Michalchuk combined to make Manhattanville's fourth lead of the game finally stand up on the way to a win. Potsdam also did not help its cause by taking five penalties in the third period alone, as the Valiants spent nearly half the frame on the man advantage and needed just one power-play score to secure the win.

The play was relatively even throughout the contest, as the Valiants ended the evening with a 29-23 edge in shots. Junior Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que.) came on in relief to earn the win (5-3-1) for Manhattanville, stopping all eight shots he faced in the final 21:22 after senior Sergiy Sorokolat (Kharkiv, Ukraine) made 12 saves on 15 shots to start the game. O'Neill (3-7-0) allowed five goals on 29 shots for the home team to suffer the loss.

Manhattanville (7-3-1) and Potsdam (3-8-0) will be back in action tomorrow afternoon, as the Valiants and Bears complete their two-game weekend series starting at 4:30 p.m. at Maxcy Ice Arena. The game will be audio streamed live on WMVL 88.1 FM beginning at approximately 4:20 p.m.