Boxscore

MILTON, Mass. – Senior All-American Mickey Lang (Reno, Nev./New York Apple Core (EJHL)) returned to the lineup on Thursday night and made an immediate impact, scoring the game-winning goal midway through the third period as fourth-ranked Manhattanville picked up its eighth straight win and the 200th victory in program history, 2-1 over Curry College, in a non-conference men's hockey matchup at Max Ulin Rink.

The win is also the 200th career victory for Valiant head coach Keith Levinthal, making him the 41st coach in Division III history to record 200 career wins and the first Manhattanville coach in any sport to reach the 200-win plateau at the school. With a career record of 200-77-28 (.702), Levinthal also becomes the eighth-fastest mentor all-time to pick up 200 D-III wins, doing so in just 305 games.

Also with the win, the Valiants complete the fourth undefeated non-conference schedule (12-0-1) in program history while posting the most non-league wins during the regular season in the team's 12-year history.

It was a triumphant return to the lineup for Lang, who missed the last two games but made his presence felt on Thursday night as he has all season long. After Curry tied up the score in the third period, the assistant captain took passes from sophomores Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)) and Jason Bowles (Elkhorn, Man./Waywayseecappo Wolverines (MJHL)) in the slot and found the back of the net for his 15th goal of the season with 7:19 remaining.

Lang had a goal and an assist in the win as did Skalski for Manhattanville (12-3-1, 1-3-0 ECAC West), as the pair combined for both Valiant goals on the night. Bowles and senior captain Lem Randall (Yellowknife, N.W.T./OCN Blizzard (MJHL)) also picked up one assist each on the night.

Outside of one miscue, junior Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que./Neepawa Natives (MJHL)) played well as always for Manhattanville in goal, turning aside 28 of the 29 shots he faced to pick up his 11th victory of the season. Curry (5-5-2, 2-1-1 ECAC Northeast) held a 29-24 edge in total shots on the night, but the Valiant defense played well all evening long to keep the Colonel scoring chances to a minimum.

In addition, the Manhattanville penalty kill also continued to improve, as the visitors held Curry scoreless on seven man-up chances, including a full two-minute two-man advantage in the middle frame. The Valiant power play was not overly effective, yet did enough: the visitors scored once in six chances.

In a rare low-scoring affair for the Valiants, the visitors capitalized on their first power-play opportunity of the contest to take an early lead at 9:37 of the first. With the puck in the offensive zone, Randall stood in the left corner and fired a nice cross-ice pass to Skalski at the back post for the easy tip-in, the sophomore's 10th score of the year. Lang also recorded a second assist on the goal.

That was the only goal of the first 40 minutes, as the teams struggled both at even strength and on the power play. The best chance for Curry came thanks to a full two minutes of five-on-three advantage early in the second period, but Lemieux made three big saves and the Valiant penalty kill performed very well to keep the home team out of the net. Headed into the third period, Curry had a slim 17-16 edge in shots, but Manhattanville had the edge on the scoreboard.

Curry nearly tied the score 2:30 into the third period, as Shane Geib rang a shot off the crossbar that he and his teammates thought found the net, but the referees ruled stayed out. The Colonels did eventually tie the score less than five minutes later, when Lemieux came out of his net to play the puck and a giveaway resulted in Brad Devereaux putting the puck into an open net for his first of the year.

But despite a goal that could have swayed the momentum against lesser teams, Lang responded a few minutes later with his Division III-leading 15th score of the year to put the Valiants back on top and lead them to yet another victory.

After a week off, Manhattanville will bring its eight-game winning streak back into the treacherous ECAC West Conference schedule next weekend, when the team travels to Neumann University for a pair of games beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. in Aston, Pa. The game will be audio streamed live on WMVL 88.1 FM starting at 6:45 p.m.