Boxscore

CORTLAND, N.Y. – Sophomore Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)) scored two goals and junior netminder Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que./Neepawa Natives (MJHL)) made a game-saving stop in the final minute at the #6 Manhattanville men's hockey team escaped Alumni Arena a 3-2 win over SUNY Cortland in a non-conference contest on Friday night.

It was not a great showing by the newly minted sixth-ranked team in the country, as despite a 39-27 edge in total shots the Valiants need some clutch plays late in the contest to fend off the Red Dragons for their sixth straight victory.

Tied at two, Cortland was whistled for a kneeing minor with 3:34 on the clock, giving Manhattanville a new chance to retake the lead for the third time. After Red Dragons' netminder Dan Jewell made some unbelievable stops to keep the score tied, the Valiants finally broke through with 2:43 remaining as Skalski took passes from classmate Jason Bowles (Elkhorn, Man./Waywayseecappo Wolverines (MJHL)) and freshman Adam Young (Edmonton, Alta./Grande Prairie Storm (AJHL)) at the back post and deposited his second of the game and ninth of the year.

Even after taking the lead, Manhattanville had to sweat out the final three minutes, no more so than when Cortland leading scorer Joey Christiano went in on a breakaway against Lemieux. But with 45 seconds left, Lemieux made a huge blocker save to keep the visitors ahead and the squad eventually held on for the win.

Lemieux made 25 stops to earn the victory, while Jewell kept his team alive by turning aside 36 shots in suffering a hard-luck loss.

Despite picking up the win, head coach Keith Levinthal was disappointed with his team's effort against the Red Dragons after two great games against nationally ranked teams over the New Year's weekend.

“It's tough to win games when only 1 of 19 players shows up,” Levinthal said. “After playing so well at Norwich, we reverted to how we were playing in November, which made for a really disappointing performance. When you have to coach heart and not execution, you're in big trouble.”

As they have done in almost every game of their six-game winning streak, Manhattanville got off to another hot start on Friday night, scoring on the first shift of the contest. Just 20 seconds into the night, sophomore Ron Smith (North Delta, B.C./Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL)) fed Skalski in the slot for the sophomore's eighth goal of the year that gave the visitors an early lead.

The game changed soon after that, however, as the Valiants had a second goal taken off the board for a high stick and Cortland came  down the ice to tie the score at one at the 2:32 mark. After an initial shot from Jake Saville was saved by Lemieux, Chris Kaleta was right on the doorstep to poke the puck home.

The visitors continued their habit of scoring early in periods in the middle frame, as the team capitalized on an early Cortland penalty to take their second lead of the game. Just 70 seconds into the period, freshman Luc VanNatter potted his third goal of the season off passes from sophomore Brendan Turner (Tisdale, Sask./Lloydminster Bobcats (AJHL)) and junior assistant captain Evan Michalchuk (Edmonton, Alta./Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)).

The remainder of the period was not a particularly pretty one for Manhattanville, as the visitors were whistled for five penalties and as a result spent a lot of the frame a man down. Nevertheless, the Valiant penalty kill was up the task, keeping the Red Dragons off the scoreboard for the entire frame. As a result, the Valiants went into the second intermission with a 26-17 edge in shots and a 2-1 advantage in goals.

However, the penalties finally came back to haunt the Valiants early in the third period, as Saville scored on the power play from Kaleta and Stephen Nardi 53 seconds into the third period to tie the score again.

For the game, Manhattanville went went 2 for 4 on the man advantage, while holding Cortland to just one goal on six man-up opportunities. And while Manhattanville was able to come back and earn the win, Levinthal knows the team needs to work harder to keep up the success, especially with a slew of home games on the horizon.

“We have a lot of games at home in the second semester, and to be good in our rink, we need to be tough and play with a lot of guts,” Levinthal said. We have our work cut out for us.”

Manhattanville (11-3-1 1-3-0 ECAC West) will return home for the first time in exactly a month on Sunday, when the Valiants host another SUNYAC foe, Morrisville State College, at 3 p.m. at Playland Ice Casino. The game will be video streamed live on GoValiants.TV starting at 2:50 p.m. Cortland (3-11-1, 2-6-0 SUNYAC) will take on another ECAC West foe, Utica College, tomorrow at 7 p.m.