Boxscore

RYE, N.Y. – The 11th-ranked Manhattanville team put an end to its five-game losing streak and gave itself some much-needed momentum headed into the postseason, as the Valiants took the play to Hobart College and came up with a 5-4 victory over the Statesmen on Senior Night at Playland Ice Casino on Saturday evening.

On a night to honor the team's seven graduating seniors, those players played a big role in Saturday's win, as Victor Nordenson (Stockholm, Sweden/Alaska Avalanche (NAHL)), Mickey Lang (Reno, Nev./New York Apple Core (EJHL)) and Artem Gumenyuk (Kharkiv, Ukraine/South Kent School) all scored while Sergiy Sorokolat (Kharkiv, Ukraine/South Kent School) and Steve Parry (Clearwater, Fla./Springfield Falcons (EJHL)) split time in goal.

The Valiants also received goals from sophomore Scott Hudson (St. Albert, Alta./Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL)) and freshman Luc VanNatter in the victory. Hudson led all Manhattanville skaters with two points and tied Hobart's Frank Salituro (two goals) for the game-high.

In goal, Sorokolat played the first 30:07 and stopped nine of the 10 shots he faced before ceding the net to his fellow senior Parry, who turned aside 19 shots in the final 29:53 in order to pick up his first victory of the season.

In a game that featured both teams dominating play at times, it was a five-minute stretch in the second period that decided the contest for Manhattanville. Tied at one after 20 minutes, VanNatter's sixth goal of the year kickstarted a streak of four goals in 4:17 that gave the home team a 5-1 advantage midway through the second frame.

VanNatter got the run going at 5:57 with an unassisted tally and that was followed up by the first goal of the year from Nordenson, as the senior took a feed from sophomore Ron Smith (North Delta, B.C./Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL)) and beat Hobart keeper Nick Broadwater at 7:02. Less than a minute later, it was Lang's turn to get in on the action, as the senior registered his team-leading 16th goal of the year from Hudson at 7:57.

The final goal of the run came while shorthanded, as sophomore Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)) won a faceoff back to Gumenyuk at the far point and the senior fired a shot that somehow eluded the pads of backup keeper Martin Ausserhofer and found the back of the net at the 10:14 mark of the middle period.

Hobart tried to climb back into the game with Patrick Moriarty's goal at 11:49 of the second, sending the teams into the second intermission with a 5-2 Valiant lead and a 29-19 edge in shots in favor of the home team.

The Statesmen then threw all they had at Manhattanville in the final 20 minutes, peppering the Valiant goal with 13 shots and allowing the home team just four. A Salituro power-play goal early in the period got the visitors back within two, and the game got more interesting when the Valiants were called for a five-minute major with just over six minutes remaining. However, Parry made several huge saves and limited Hobart to just one goal on the man advantage, and the Valiants ran down the clock to pick up their 15th victory of the season.

For the game, Manhattanville held a slight 33-32 edge in shots, but the tandem of Sorokolat and Parry combined to keep the Hobart offense off the scoreboard just enough to pull out the win.

Manhattanville (15-9-1, 3-9-0 ECAC West) and Hobart (14-9-2, 4-7-1 ECAC West) will meet once again on Wednesday, but the venue will change to Geneva, N.Y., as the Valiants and Statesmen battle in the first round of the ECAC West Conference Tournament. Check GoValiants.com in the coming days for more information including game time, broadcast information and a postseason preview.