PURCHASE, N.Y. – Despite a difficult ECAC West Conference schedule, the 12th-ranked Manhattanville men's hockey team will still have a chance to salvage its season starting this week, as the Valiants begin defense of their 2010 ECAC West Tournament championship on Wednesday night in a first-round game at Hobart College.

Manhattanville (15-9-1, 3-9-0 ECAC West) will be the fifth seed in the ECAC West Tournament this year, marking the first time in nine seasons that the Valiants will not be a top-two seed and thus not have a home game to begin the postseason. The Valiants are going up against fourth-seeded Hobart (14-9-2, 4-7-1 ECAC West) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Geneva Recreation Center, with the winner traveling to top-seeded Elmira College on Saturday at 7 p.m. for the ECAC West semifinals.

For fans making the trip to Geneva, tickets for the game are $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for children (12 and under).  If you can't make it to the game, Hobart will offer live stats and a live audio feed courtesy of WHWS 105.7 FM.

Wednesday's meeting between the two teams will be their third straight contest against one another, as the Valiants and Statesmen split the final series of the regular season at Playland Ice Casino on Friday and Saturday. Hobart came away with a 3-1 win in game one led by a goal and an assist from Matthew Wallace, while the Valiants came back to pick up a 5-4 Senior Night win on Saturday evening behind goals from seniors Victor Nordenson (Stockholm, Sweden/Alaska Avalanche (NAHL)), Mickey Lang (Reno, Nev./New York Apple Core (EJHL)) and Artem Gumenyuk (Kharkiv, Ukraine/South Kent School), and 19 saves from classmate Steve Parry (Clearwater, Fla./Springfield Falcons (EJHL)).

This will be the 12th consecutive season that the Valiants will appear in the conference tournament. Manhattanville is 9-7 all-time in ECAC West Tournament play; however, the team's 8-2 mark in the last six seasons is easily the best among any conference program. In that six-year span, the Valiants have captured four ECAC West Tournament titles (2005, 2007, 2008, 2010), including last season's thrilling come-from-behind 4-3 (OT) win at top-seeded Elmira.

In addition to the game being their third straight meeting between the teams, Wednesday also will mark the third consecutive season in which Manhattanville and Hobart will meet in the postseason. The teams have split their previous two meetings, both of which have come at Playland. Last year on February 27, the Valiants advanced to the championship game with a 4-2 semifinal win after scoring four unanswered goals to end the contest.

Manhattanville is led by a pair of double-digit scorers this season, as Lang has netted a team-leading 16 goals and sophomore Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)) has added 13. Lang is tied for the ECAC West lead and ranks 16th in Division III in goals, and the All-American has also assisted on 11 goals for a team-leading 27 points that leaves him fourth among conference skaters. Skalski, meanwhile, has made a big leap as a sophomore, more than doubling every offensive category with 13 goals and seven assists for 20 points.

On the blue line, the Valiants are also getting very productive years from junior Marcus von Sydow (Stockholm, Sweden/Djugarden J20 (SWE)) and senior Sasha Romanenko (Kharkiv, Ukraine/Hebron Academy), as both players are in the midst of career seasons. In addition to being arguably the team's two most solid defenders, von Sydow has three goals and 10 assists for 13 points while Romanenko has added one goal to his team-leading 12 helpers for 13 points as well.

Junior Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que./Neepawa Natives (MJHL)) has been a stalwart in goal for Manhattanville, playing in 22 of the team's 25 games and posting a 2.27 goals against average and .913 save percentage in 20 starts.

Hobart, meanwhile, is paced offensively by Wallace and junior Greg Ciciola. Wallace is tied with Lang and Elmira's Kevin Willer for the conference lead with 16 goals, and has also added 10 assists for a team-best 26 points. Ciciola ranks in the top-two in all three categories for the Statesmen, registering 10 goals with 15 assists for 25 points.

Sophomore Nick Broadwater has started all but two games in goal for Hobart, posting a 13-7-2 record to go with a 2.44 goals against average and .925 save percentage in 24 contests.

The Valiants and Statesmen have met 32 times in 12 seasons, with the Valiants posting a 20-8-4 record all-time. This year's Valiant senior class has also never lost in Geneva, as Manhattanville has won seven straight games at “The Cooler” since January 2006.