CENTERVILLE, Mass. – After playing key roles in the Manhattanville men's hockey team's victory over #10 Elmira on Saturday night, senior netminder
Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que./Neepawa Natives (MJHL)) and freshman forward
Mark Rivera (Belmar, N.J./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) were honored by the ECAC West Conference as Goalie of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively, the conference office announced on Monday evening.
Lemieux earns the Goaltender of the Week honor for the second time this season and the seventh time in his career, while Rivera's Rookie of the Week award is his third of the 2011-12 campaign so far. Both players played key roles as the Valiants earned a weekend split with #10 Elmira thanks to a big 4-3 victory in Pine Valley on Saturday night.
Lemieux was the obvious star for the Valiants in the Saturday win, as the senior posted the highest single-game save total by a Valiant in over 11 years and came within one save of matching the school's single-game record with 55 stops in the 4-3 win over the Soaring Eagles. The save total was one away from the program record of 56 set by Jon Peczka '02 against SUNY Geneseo on November 25, 2000, and constitutes the most saves ever made by a Valiant goalie in a win.
On the season, Lemieux ranks 13th in Division III with a career-best .927 save percentage while also posting a 2.42 goals against average and an 11-4-3 record that ties him for fourth in the country in wins. In addition, the senior's three shutouts so far this season also tied him for first in Division III.
Rivera also had another solid week for Manhattanville against Elmira, recording the primary assist on first-period tallies by juniors Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)) and Brendan Turner (Tisdale, Sask./Lloydminster Bobcats (AJHL)) to put the Valiants up by a pair early in the game on Saturday. The freshman leads all ECAC West Conference rookies and ranks 30th in Division III in rookie scoring this season with 14 points on six goals and eight assists, placing him sixth on the team in both goals and points as a freshman.
In addition, junior Scott Hudson (St. Albert, Alta./Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL)) also made another appearance on the weekly honor roll after leading the team with three points on a goal and two assists last weekend. After assisting on one goal in Friday's loss, the junior forward assisted on Skalski's second goal of the game to put the Valiants up by a pair and then broke a 3-3 tie in the third period with his 10th goal of the year for the eventual game-winning score. On the year, Hudson is tied for the team lead with 10 goals and has added 12 assists for 22 points, giving him the team lead in that category as well.
Manhattanville (11-5-3, 5-3-0 ECAC West), which received its first national ranking of the year on Monday with the #13 slot in the D3Hockey.com National Poll, will get back on the ice this weekend with a crucial home-and-home series with USCHO #9 Utica beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. in Utica. That game will be audio streamed live on WMVLRadio.com beginning at 6:45 p.m., while Saturday's game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Playland Ice Casino and can be seen live on GoValiants.TV beginning at 6:45 p.m.
