Box Score Box Score

PINE VALLEY, N.Y. – Senior Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que./Neepawa Natives (MJHL)) literally saved the day for the Manhattanville men's hockey team on Saturday night, as the netminder came one save short of matching the program single-game record in willing the Valiants to a gritty 4-3 victory over #10 Elmira in a key ECAC West Conference matchup at the Murray Athletic Center.

Lemieux had a superlative effort in leading the visitors to the win, as his 55 saves were easily a new career high and came just one short of matching the 56 saves of Jon Peczka on November 25, 2000 against SUNY Geneseo. He needed every one of those stops to hold back an offensive onslaught by the Soaring Eagles that saw 58 shots fly toward the Valiant net.

Offensively, junior Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)) led the team with two goals while classmates Brendan Turner (Tisdale, Sask./Lloydminster Bobcats (AJHL)) and Scott Hudson (St. Albert, Alta./Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL)) also found the net for the visitors in picking up the crucial conference win. Hudson added an assist for a two-point game, while freshman Mark Rivera (Belmar, N.J./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) also had a pair of assists for the home team as well.

Despite never trailing in the game, things were never easy for Manhattanville on the night, especially after Elmira's D'Arcy Oakes tied the score at three with 2:13 gone by in the third period. But Hudson provided the offensive heroics for the Valiants, controlling the rebound of a shot by sophomore Marc Zanoni (Lethbridge, Alta./Calgary Canucks (AJHL)) and slotting it into the cage for his 10th goal of the season.

After the goal, Elmira fired shot after shot toward the Manhattanville net, 18 in all in the third period, but Lemieux stood on his head to keep the Soaring Eagles off the scoreboard and keep the Valiants on top. The home team pulled goalie Darren McDonald for the final 80 seconds, but Lemieux again made several big stops to secure the victory.

Elmira's domination of the shot totals, which finished at 58-31 in favor of the home team, started early in the opening frame, as Elmira held a big advantage in both shots and possession. Yet it was the Valiants that took advantage of their opportunities to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

In fact, it took Manhattanville just nine seconds to score two goals, as Skalski and Turner both found the net quickly. Skalski got the scoring started at the 5:05 mark on the power play, corralling a shot by Rivera and finding the net. Sophomore Adam Young (Edmonton, Alta./Grande Prairie Storm (AJHL)) also picked up an assist on Skalski's seventh of the year. The Valiants then scored again on their very next foray into the offensive zone, as Turner took a nice feed from Rivera at the top of the crease and deked past McDonald for his team-leading 10th score of the year. Rivera and sophomore Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont./Aurora Tigers (OPJHL)) recorded the assists on the score.

Manhattanville hoped to take that two-goal lead into the intermission, but Elmira's Wes Consorti scored off a rebound in front to halve the Valiant lead to 2-1 after 20 minutes.

The visitors got that two-goal lead back just 95 seconds into the second frame, as Skalski struck again by putting a beautiful tip on a pass from Hudson and putting it past McDonald for his second of the night and eighth of the year.

Despite Elmira firing 24 shots on the Valiant net in the middle frame, the home team was only able to score once, that coming with 3:42 left when John Clewlow poked the puck past Lemieux from the top of the crease.

Nevertheless, despite being on the wrong end of a 40-20 shot total after 40 minutes, Manhattanville went into the third period with a lead – a situation that the team had experienced 11 times previously this year without suffering a loss. And thanks in large part to Lemieux's heroics, the Valiants improved that mark to 10-0-2 on the year.

Manhattanville (11-5-3, 5-3-0 ECAC West) will look to keep the momentum going next weekend, as the Valiants take on Utica in a home-and-home series beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. in Utica. The live WMVL 88.1 FM broadcast will begin at 6:45 p.m. with the pregame show. Elmira (13-5-2, 6-1-1 ECAC West) will take on Hobart in a home-and-home series beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. in Geneva.