Box Score Box Score
RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's hockey team had to settle for a weekend split in its home-and-home series with #9 Utica, as the Valiants dropped a 9-3 decision to the Pioneers at the Playland Ice Casino on Saturday night.
After the Valiants scored the first goal, the Pioneers scored four straight tallies and nine of the next 11 on the way to the win. Manhattanville (12-6-3, 6-4-0 ECAC West) remains one point behind Elmira for the top spot in the conference and now sits just three points ahead of Utica (15-6-1, 4-4-1 ECAC West) for the #2 seed and a home playoff game in the ECAC West Conference Tournament semifinals.
Prior to the game Manhattanville honored the seven graduating players participating in their final regular season home contest, as forwards Evan Michalchuk (Edmonton, Alta./Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)) and Derek Serdachny (Yorkton, Sask./Yorkton Terriers (SJHL)), defensemen Dillon O'Hara (Wallingford, Conn./South Kent School), Marcus von Sydow (Stockholm, Sweden/Djugarden J20 (SWE)), Niclas Wennerlof (Gothenburg, Sweden/Frolunda Indians (SWE)) and Bill Silengo (Madison, Conn./South Kent School), and goalkeeper Pierre-Olivier Lemieux (Rimouski, Que./Neepawa Natives (MJHL)) were all honored for their years of playing in the crimson and white.
The Valiants jumped on the Pioneers early when junior Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)) intercepted an outlet pass at the offensive blue line and and sent the puck past Utica netminder Nick Therrien to give Manhattanville the early 1-0 lead. The lead did not last the period, however, as Evan Chlanda tallied his 12th goal of the year to even the game at one and the score remained at one apiece through the remainder of the first period.
Tim Coffman gave the Pioneers their first lead of the night 5:28 into the second period, but the Valiants went on the power-play looking to even the score. But instead the home team gave away the puck which allowed Jon Gaffney to take the puck off a turnover and slap it past Lemieux to extend Utica's lead to 3-1.
Down 4-1 in the middle stanza, it was the Valiants' turn to capitalize on a shorthanded chance as junior Brendan Turner (Tisdale, Sask./Lloydminster Bobcats (AJHL)) tallied his 11th goal of the season to pull the home team within two with 6:58 remaining in the period. But the momentum Manhattanville gained was quickly disrupted when just over a minute later Utica's Rob Morton scored within the same power play to put the Pioneers up by three goals again at 5-2.
During the third period Manhattanville trimmed the lead in half at 6-3 on the ninth goal of the year by sophomore Brian Elser (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./Bay State Breakers (EJHL)), but Utica added three more over the final 5:10 of the game to finish off the game at 9-3. In the third period, the Pioneers were outshot by their hosts by a 7-3 margin but made their shots count as all three found the back of the net. The Pioneers finished the game with the edge in shots at 27-22.
The Valiants will travel upstate next Saturday for their final non-conference game when they take on the Morrisville Mustangs at 7:00 p.m., with the live WMVLRadio.com broadcast set to begin at 6:45 p.m. Utica will be back in action when they host Neumann for a pair of ECAC West Conference matchups on Friday and Saturday night.
