Boxscore

ASTON, Pa. – The #5 Manhattanville men's hockey team took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission but gave up four unanswered goals in the final 40 minutes of play as the Valiants had their eight-game winning streak emphatically snapped thanks to a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Neumann University in an ECAC West Conference contest on Friday night at Ice Works.

It was not a very pretty night on the ice for the Valiants, who were trying to avenge a 5-1 loss to the Knights earlier in the season at Playland Ice Casino. Instead, the home team outshot the visitors by a 41-18 margin and outscored its counterpart 4-0 at even strength to pull out the win.

The line of Matthew Valois, Andrew Love and Bill Foster did much of the damage for Neumann on the night, combining for three goals – led by Valois' game-high three points on a goal and two assists. Aaron Keaney and Marlon Gardner also scored for the Knights.

On the Manhattanville side, freshmen Brian Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./Bay State Breakers (EJHL)) and Adam Young (Edmonton, Alta./Grande Prairie Storm (AJHL)) tallied goals in the first period, with senior assistant captain Mickey Lang (Reno, Nev./New York Apple Core (EJHL)) picking up assists on both tallies and freshman Luc VanNatter also assisting on one.

Facing just 18 shots, Neumann goaltender Ross MacKinnon was never seriously tested at even strength in making 16 saves to pick up his fifth win of the year. Junior Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que./Neepawa Natives (MJHL)) made 36 saves for Manhattanville in falling to 11-4-1 on the season.

Neumann was the aggressor from nearly start to finish on Friday night, as the home team took control of the contest early on despite taking five penalties in the first 20 minutes. The Knights opened the scoring with 2:55 remaining in the first period, as Foster netted his first of the year from Love and Valois.

But the penalties finally came back to haunt the Knights late in the period, as Manhattanville took advantage of two Neumann infractions to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The first goal came with 1:18 remaining on a 5-on-3 advantage, as Elser found himself alone at the back post and brushed the puck home for his eighth of the season from VanNatter and Lang. Just over a minute later, the Valiants capitalized on the subsequent 5 on 4 to take the lead, as Young and Lang worked a beautiful give-and-go that resulted in a Young snipe from the slot with just four seconds left in the period.

The goals seemed to give Manhattanville some much-needed momentum headed into the second period, as the visitors looked to continue its attack in the middle frame. However, instead Neumann received an early power play in the period and Keaney tied the score at two 2:44 into the stanza.

The Neumann attack continued, as the Knights fired 18 shots on Lemieux's net in the second period alone. The eventual game-winner came at the 10:44 mark, as Gardner corralled the rebound of a Michael Rey and found the net. Less than six minutes later, the Neumann lead doubled thanks to Love's first of the year at 16:34, which gave the home team a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.

The Valiants continued to lack great scoring opportunities in the third period, as the team managed just six shots. Valois put the game out of reach for Neumann at 5:02 of the third with his third tally of the season.

Manhattanville (13-4-1, 1-4-0 ECAC West) and Neumann (10-5-3, 4-2-0 ECAC West) will complete their two-game weekend series tomorrow night at 7 p.m., with WMVL 88.1 FM carrying the call live starting at 6:45 p.m.