Box Score GENEVA, N.Y. – Sophomore Brian Fleming (Saint John, N.B./Northern Cyclones (AJHL)) turned aside 51 shots and freshman Matt Coleman (Brentwood, N.Y./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) had a goal and an assist to lead four Valiant scorers as the Manhattanville men's hockey team salvaged a 4-4 (OT) tie with #9/7 Hobart in an ECAC West Conference matchup on Saturday afternoon at the Geneva Recreation Center.
 
Fleming had a second straight superlative outing to start the year for the Valiants, outdoing last night's performance with a new career-best 51 saves. The mark ranks fourth on the school's single-game saves list and makes him the third Valiant netminder all-time to eclipse the 50-save mark against a conference opponent.
 
Offensively, Coleman had his first career multi-point game, recording the first point and adding the first goal of his career for a game-high two points. Senior co-captain Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)), junior assistant captain Craig Simchuk (Winnipeg, Man./Winnipeg Saints (MJHL)) and sophomore Paul Sirignano (St. Catharines, Ont./Thorold Blackhawks (OJHL)) also scored for the Valiants on the afternoon.
 
Hobart came out firing to start the day with four straight shots that were turned aside by Fleming. But it took only one Valiant shot to open the scoring, as Sirignano scored his first career goal on the squad's first shot of the day off a pass from junior Louie Balzano (Staten Island, N.Y./New York Apple Core (EJHL)) to give the visitors their first lead of the young season.
 
The home team was able to even the score before the first period concluded, however, as Frank Salituro beat Fleming at the 14:51 mark. The shots were 13-12 in favor of Hobart after 20 minutes.
 
The second period was all Hobart, as the Statesmen posted a 20-7 advantage in shots and got the only two goals of the frame from Bo Webster and Tommy Fiorentino to seemingly take control headed into the third.
 
But it was Manhattanville's chance to take control at the start of the third period, as the Valiants scored three times in the first 4:37 to turn a two-goal deficit into a one-goal lead. The team used all three facets of the game in order to do so, scoring a power-play, even-strength and shorthanded tally during the run.
 
Skalski got the rally started only 35 seconds into the third, netting his first of the year on the power play with the assist going to Coleman for the forward's first collegiate point. Less than three minutes later Coleman picked up his first career goal as well, beating netminder Nick Broadwater to even the score at three at the 3:14 mark off a pass from senior assistant captain Scott Hudson (St. Albert, Alta./Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL)).
 
A Valiant penalty 15 seconds later seemed to quell any of the visitors' momentum, but in fact it simply made it stronger at 4:37 of the period when Simchuk scored a shorthanded tally to give Manhattanville its first lead of the day.
 
The Valiants held the hard-charging Statesmen off the scoreboard for the next 10 minutes, killing off three power plays in the process, but Hobart's Terrence O'Neill managed to sneak one more by Fleming at the 15:03 mark to re-tie the score.
 
Manhattanville still had a golden chance to retake the lead in the waning minutes after Hobart was called for a penalty with 2:29 remaining, but Fleming had to make more saves during the two minutes than Broadwater and the two teams went to overtime.
 
Both teams had three shots in the extra session, but the two goalies were up to the task and the game finished up in a 4-4 tie.
 
The final shot totals were 55-35 in favor of the home team, as Fleming made 51 saves and Broadwater turned aside 31 for the Statesmen. The Valiants had some more success on special teams on Saturday, going 1 for 5 on the man advantage and adding a shorthanded tally, while Hobart went 1 for 7 in man-up chances.
 
Manhattanville (0-1-1, 0-1-1 ECAC West) is scheduled to open its home slate on Friday night at Playland Ice Casino against ECAC West newcomer Nazareth, but the site may have to be moved thanks to damage to Playland from Hurricane Sandy. Check GoValiants.com, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for any announcements on a venue change for this weekend's two-game series.