PURCHASE, N.Y. – For the sixth time in the last seven years, the Manhattanville men's hockey team will begin its quest for an ECAC West Conference Tournament championship on home ice, as the second-seeded Valiants will welcome third-seeded Hobart College to Playland Ice Casino on Saturday, February 25 at 7 p.m. for the ECAC West Tournament semifinals.
Tickets for the game are $7.00 for adults and $3.00 for non-Manhattanville students (with valid ID), while all Manhattanville students who come to the game with a valid student ID will be admitted free of charge courtesy of the Manhattanville Athletic Department. Fans that can't make it to Rye for the game can watch live on GoValiants.TV, with live stats also available by clicking here.
Manhattanville (13-8-3, 6-6- ECAC West), which is ranked 15th in the latest D3Hockey.com Division III National poll, had a top-two seed clinched before last weekend, and two losses to this same Hobart squad locked the Valiants into the number-two position with 12 points heading into the postseason. Hobart (14-10-1, 5-6-1 ECAC West) vaulted up from fifth place to third place during the final weekend of the regular season, finishing the year with 11 points.
The other semifinal contest will feature top-seeded Elmira (15-7-3, 8-2-2 ECAC West) hosting the winner of Wednesday's ECAC West first-round game, which pits fourth-seeded Utica (15-8-2, 4-6-2 ECAC West) and fifth-seeded Neumann (13-7-3, 3-6-3 ECAC West) in Utica.
Manhattanville hopes that a move to the postseason will change the team's luck against Hobart, as the Statesmen swept all three games from the Valiants during the regular season. The first meeting came in the coaching debut of head coach Eric Lang on November 4, when Hobart came to Playland and left with a 4-0 win. The teams then waited all season to meet twice last weekend in Geneva, with the home team posting 3-0 and 10-3 victories on Friday and Saturday.
This season marks the fourth straight season that Manhattanville and Hobart will meet in their opening game of the conference tournament. Last year, the Statesmen hung on for a 1-0 victory in the first round of the ECAC West Tournament in Geneva. The teams have also met twice in the semifinals in Rye: Hobart earned a 3-1 win over the Valiants during the 2008-09 season to advance to the championship round, but Manhattanville picked up a 4-2 victory in the semifinals on the way to the program's fourth ECAC West Tournament championship in 2009-10.
Manhattanville has posted a 20-12-4 record all-time record against Hobart, including the three postseason meetings. At Playland, the Valiants are 11-4-3 all-time against the Statesmen.
The Valiants will be making their 13th consecutive appearance in the ECAC West Tournament, including the ninth time in the last 10 seasons that the squad is either the first or second seed in the postseason tournament. Manhattanville is 9-8 all-time in the conference tournament, but is an excellent 8-3 in the last seven seasons and has won four ECAC West Tournament titles (2005, 2007, 2008, 2010) during that time.
Despite some struggles last weekend, Manhattanville boasts the 10th-ranked offense in Division III this year, averaging 4.04 goals per game. Junior Scott Hudson (St. Albert, Alta./Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL)) leads the team offensively, ranking 29th in the country with a career-high 14 goals this season and also adding 15 assists for a team-leading 29 points. Classmate Brendan Turner (Tisdale, Sask./Lloydminster Bobcats (AJHL)) also has had a career year so far, potting 11 goals with 15 assists for 26 points. Both players have been successful on special teams as well, as Hudson ranks seventh in D-III with seven power-play goals while Turner is tied for fifth with two shorthanded tallies.
But one of the team's strengths this year has been its varied offensive attack – eight players have at least six goals and five different players have 10 or more tallies in 2011-12. Sophomore Brian Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./Bay State Breakers (EJHL)) is tied for second on the team with 11 goals, while junior Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)) and sophomore Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont./Aurora Tigers (OPJHL)) both have 10 goals and 10 assists so far. In addition, freshman Mark Rivera (Belmar, N.J./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) is a leading ECAC West Rookie of the Year candidate with nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points, leading all conference rookies in all three categories.
In goal for Manhattanville, senior Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que./Neepawa Natives (MJHL)) has been a constant between the pipes, having played 92.8 percent of the team's minutes this season – a percentage surpassed by only four D-III netminders this year. Lemieux has posted a 2.89 goals against average and .911 save percentage to go with his 13-7-3 record, and also is tied for third in the country with three shutouts.
The Hobart offensive attack enters the postseason ranked 22nd in the country by averaging 3.52 goals per game, and yet scored 17 in three games against Manhattanville this year. The Statesmen also do not have one go-to scorer, as senior Greg Ciciola leads the squad with 13 tallies and has added eight assists for 21 points. Junior Frank Salituro is the team leader in assists and points, having scored 11 and helped on 15 for 26 points on the year. Junior Brad Richard is also dangerous from the blue line, as he ranks second in the ECAC West and 22nd nationally among defensemen with 19 points (10 goals, nine assists).
The Hobart goaltending situation has changed throughout the season, as junior Nick Broadwater started six of the first seven games of the year before missing the next 15 games due to injury. In his place, classmate Martin Ausserhofer posted a 10-5-1 record with a 2.34 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. But Broadwater came on in relief two weeks ago and has started the last three games of the regular season and looks to once again be the starter headed into the postseason. Broadwater is 4-5-0 with a 3.08 goals against average and a .905 save percentage, with both of his shutouts this year coming against Manhattanville.
The winners of Saturday's semifinal matchups will meet in the ECAC West Tournament championship game, which will be held on Saturday, March 3 at the rink of the highest remaining seed.
