Box Score

MILTON, Mass. – Down by two goals after 20 minutes of play, the Manhattanville men's hockey scored once in the second period and then blitzed host Curry with three goals in the third frame to pull out a gutty 4-2 non-conference victory over the Colonels on Tuesday night at Max Ulin Rink.

For Manhattanville, it was the first time all season that the Valiants came back from a third-period deficit, and the squad did so emphatically to increase its unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2) to start the Spring 2012 semester.

"We had a lot of guys that played like cowboys tonight," said head coach Eric Lang. "We never wavered from our game plan and it was a fantastic team win. We have a real calmness to the team right now, and they are starting to believe in one another." 

Down by a goal headed into the third frame, junior Scott Hudson (St. Albert, Alta./Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL)) got the game back to even just 1:06 into the third period. Junior assistant captain Ron Smith (North Delta, B.C./Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL)) won the puck in the corner and passed cross ice to sophomore Brian Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./Bay State Breakers (EJHL)), who skated in from the left circle and drew the netminder out before finding Hudson at the back post for the put away, his team-leading ninth tally of the year.

Manhattanville completed the comeback with less than six minutes left in regulation, as sophomore Craig Simchuk (Winnipeg, Man./Winnipeg Saints (MJHL)) stuffed home the rebound of a shot by senior co-captain Evan Michalchuk (Edmonton, Alta./Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)) to put the visitors ahead. Sophomore Louie Balzano (Staten Island, N.Y./New York Apple Core (EJHL)) then put a cap on the evening with a nice insurance tally with 64 seconds left, as Elser sprung him for a breakaway and he deked past Curry netminder Joe Dawson for his second of the year.

For the game, Manhattanville posted a slight 42-41 edge in shots.

Manhattanville controlled play for much of the opening frame, sustaining possession in the offensive zone and firing more than 20 shots toward the Colonel net, and yet it was the home team that went into the first intermission with a two-goal lead. At the 6:31 mark, Ian DeLong corralled the rebound of a Alex Barr shot and found the net for his sixth of the year. Then late in the frame, Chris Mason scored his first of the season with 2:15 remaining to give the Colonels a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

The visitors got one of the goals back in the second period, drawing to within one thanks to a power-play score from sophomore Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont./Aurora Tigers (OPJHL)). Freshman Mark Rivera (Belmar, N.J./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) took the puck down the left side of the ice and feathered a nice pass through the slot to Van Natter, who temporarily tied Hudson and junior Brendan Turner (Tisdale, Sask./Lloydminster Bobcats (AJHL)) for the team lead with his eighth tally of the season.

After allowing the two first-period goals, senior netminder Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que./Neepawa Natives (MJHL)) again was excellent in goal for the Valiants, turning aside 39 shots to improve to 8-3-3 on the year. Dawson suffered the loss for Curry, allowing four goals on 42 attempts.

Manhattanville (8-4-3) now will turn its attention to conference play, as the next six games and eight of the last nine come against ECAC West Conference competition. The Valiants will play the first of two games against USCHO #7 Neumann on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Playland Ice Casino, with the live GoValiants.TV video stream set to begin at 6:45 p.m. Curry (7-7-1) will host Wentworth on Saturday beginning at 4:35 p.m.