PURCHASE, N.Y. – The fourth-seeded Manhattanville men's hockey team will look to carry the momentum from a thrilling overtime victory in the semifinals into the ECAC West Championship game this weekend, as the Valiants vie for the program's fifth ECAC West Conference Tournament championship on Saturday night at Ice Works in Aston, Pa., against third-seeded Neumann.
 
Manhattanville (15-9-3, 6-6-3 ECAC West) earned its sixth ECAC West Championship game appearance with a thrilling 2-1 (OT) win over top-seeded and national #7/2 Utica on Saturday night in Utica. Neumann (18-6-3, 8-6-1 ECAC West) also upset a nationally ranked team to reach the championship game, shutting out second-seeded and #6/5 Hobart by a 2-0 score on Saturday night in Geneva, N.Y.
 
The Athletic Department will be sponsoring a fan bus to Neumann for the game, with the bus departing from Spellman Hall at 4 p.m. on Saturday. All interested students must sign up for the bus in the Athletic Department offices before the end of the day on Friday.
 
And even if you can't make it to Aston, Pa., for the game, fans can still follow all the action from home, as live audio coverage on WMVL 88.1 FM and WMVLRadio.com will begin at approximately 7:15 p.m. Neumann is also providing a pay-per-view video stream available at FASTHockey.com as well as live stats that can be accessed by clicking here.
 
Manhattanville and Neumann have only met once in the ECAC West Tournament, coming at Playland Ice Casino in the 2007 ECAC West championship game. The Valiants emerged with a 5-4 (OT) win on an overtime game-winner from Troy Maleyko '07 to give the team its second ECAC West Tournament title. Since a loss to RIT in the 2001 finals, Manhattanville has won its last four ECAC West Championship game appearances and is 11-9-0 overall in the conference tournament, and ranks second among current conference teams with its four ECAC West Tournament championships (2005, 2007, 2008, 2010).
 
Neumann is making its fifth appearance in the ECAC West championship game, including its fourth in the last five years. The Knights are just 1-3-0 in the title game, but the squad ran the table through the ECAC West Tournament in 2009 and went on to capture the Div. III National Championship. The team is 10-5-0 all-time in the conference tournament.
 
The Valiants and Knights split the season series during the regular season, with both teams winning once on their home ice and the teams also skating to a tie in Aston. The first game of the series was the most lopsided score-wise, as the Valiants allowed three late goals in a 5-1 loss on January 18. On February 1 in Stamford, freshman Matt Coleman (Brentwood, N.Y./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) and captains Brett Skalski (Exton, Pa./Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)) and Craig Simchuk (Winnipeg, Man./Winnipeg Saints (MJHL)) had a goal and an assist each in a 5-2 Valiant win. The next night back in Aston, the Valiants took a 2-1 lead into the third period on goals by sophomore Mark Rivera (Belmar, N.J./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) and senior Scott Hudson (St. Albert, Alta./Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL)), but had to settle for a 2-2 (OT) tie.
 
Both teams enter the weekend with national rankings to their credit, as the Valiants are ranked 14th according to both USCHO.com and D3hockey.com, while the Knights are 12th in the latest USCHO rankings and 10th in this week's D3hockey.com poll.
 
Manhattanville reached its sixth ECAC West championship game with a heartstopping win over the top-seeded Pioneers on Saturday night. Freshman Paul Allan Bamberg (Lulea, Sweden/Lulea HF J20 (SWE)) tied the game in the second period with a power-play goal and sophomore netminder Alex Scola (Exeter, N.H./Woodstock Slammers (MJHL)) turned aside 40 of the 41 shots he faced before classmate Paul Sirignano (St. Catharines, Ont./Thorold Blackhawks (OJHL)) provided the overtime heroics with the game-winning goal to send the Valiants onto the next round.
 
One key to the game for the Valiants was special teams, as the penalty kill warded off all five UC power-play chances while the power-play unit also scored once in four opportunities. The Valiant penalty kill is now up to third in Division III with an 88.6 percent success rate (109 for 123), while the power play is up to 48th in D-III at 17.7 percent.
 
The Manhattanville offense proved to be opportunistic on Saturday, and still ranks 10th in Division III by scoring 3.85 goals per game this season. Senior assistant captain Scott Hudson (St. Albert, Alta./Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL)) continues to lead the Valiants in scoring this year with 12 goals and 17 assists this season on the way to All-Conference first-team honors, followed closely by sophomore Mark Rivera (Belmar, N.J./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) with nine goals and a conference-best 19 assists (24th D-III). Linemates and fellow All-ECAC West honorees Matt Coleman (Brentwood, N.Y./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) and Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont./Aurora Tigers (OPJHL)) are third and fourth on the team with 26 points and 24 points, respectively.
 
Sophomore Anton Racklin (Gothenburg, Sweden/Fairbanks Ice Dogs (NAHL)) paces the Valiant defensive unit at both ends of the ice, helping the Valiants hold opponents to 2.63 goals per game (25th D-III) this year. On the offensive end, the All-Conference first-team pick ranks third in the ECAC West and 15th in the country with 20 points from the blueline, having scored five goals with 15 assists.
 
Manhattanville also boasts one of the hottest goaltenders in Division III in Scola, who has started the last five games and posted a 3-1-1 record, a 1.93 goals against average and a .938 save percentage. Having just reached the minimum to enter the national rankings after Saturday's game, Scola ranks 17th in Division III with a 2.15 goals against average and also sits 10th in save percentage (.930) to go with his 6-2-1 record.
 
Neumann earned a spot in the championship game for the third straight year with a 2-0 shutout on the road at the second-seeded Statesmen on Saturday. Scott Farrell and Craig Cowie scored for the Knights in the second period and Braely Torris made the lead stand up by turning aside all 43 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season.
 
The Knights enter the weekend 28th in Division III in scoring offense by averaging 3.37 goals per game, while their defense has allowed only 2.15 goals per game (11th in D-III) this season. Their leading scorer combines those two facets, as Scott Farrell was named an All-Conference first team pick on the blue line and led the team with 24 points on seven goals and a team-best 17 assists. He leads the conference and ranks fifth nationally in points among blueliners.
 
Torris, who was named to the All-ECAC West second team in the crease, has started the last nine games and backstops the Neumann defense unit. The junior netminder leads Division III with a .940 save percentage this year and also ranks 11th with his 1.95 goals against average to go with a 12-4-2 record and three shutouts.
 
Offensively, Chris Bournazos has scored a team-leading 13 goals – including seven in 15 conference games – and ranks second on the team in scoring with 20 points. Aaron Keaney has chipped in 11 goals with eight assists for 19 points as well, while All-Conference honorable mention Jordan Zalba is the team's most senior player with seven goals this year and 31 for his career.
 
The Knights also boast the top-ranked special teams unit in the ECAC West Conference and the fourth-best in Division III this year, ranking 14th in the country on the power play (23.3 percent) and 17th on the penalty kill (85.2 percent).
 
Since the ECAC West Conference does not have an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Div. III Tournament, the winner of Saturday's game will still have to wait out the following 24 hours to see if they receive one of three at-large bids to the tournament, with the announcement expected to come late Sunday night.