RYE, N.Y. – Senior Brian Fleming (Saint John, N.B./Northern Cyclones (AJHL)) turned aside 41 shots as the Manhattanville College men's hockey team completed an unbeaten opening weekend with a hard-fought 1-1 (OT) tie with D3Hockey.com #12 Elmira College in ECAC West Conference action on Saturday night at Playland Ice Casino.
 
In addition to Fleming's great night between the pipes, sophomore assistant captain Teagan Waugh (Nanaimo, B.C./Powell River Kings (BCHL)) had the lone goal of the game for Manhattanville (1-0-1, 1-0-1 ECAC West), which starts the year by taking three of a possible four points from the top-two teams in the conference preseason poll.
 
Fleming was the big story of the night for the Valiants, as the senior kept Manhattanville ahead for the first 56 minutes before a late game-tying goal. His 41 saves are the third-highest of his career, including a shorthanded breakaway stop of Nick Owen and numerous denials from close range.
 
After a scoreless first period of play, Manhattanville continued to capitalize on its power-play chances by scoring a five-on-three goal to open the scoring. Playing up two men, sophomore Tanner Hicks (Calgary, Alta./Brooks Bandits (AJHL)) sent a pass to the goal line to junior Matt Coleman (Brentwood, N.Y./Springfield Pics (EJHL)), who fed the puck across the crease to Waugh for a one-timer that beat Sal Magliocco for his second goal in two games at the 8:32 mark.
 
Through two games this season, the Valiants are 4-for-10 on the man advantage and currently rank third in Division III with their 40.0 percent success rate.
 
It looked like that goal might be enough for Fleming and the Valiants as the home team continued to keep the Soaring Eagles offense off the board. But Elmira (0-1-1, 0-1-1 ECAC West) took advantage of a Valiant penalty with less than five minutes to go, as Jarryd ten Vaanholt tipped home a Greg Whittle shot from the high slot for the game-tying goal at 16:23.
 
Neither team could find the net again the rest of the way, although Manhattanville ended the contest with a huge flurry of offensive pressure while playing four-on-four.
 
Elmira finished the night with a 42-32 edge in shots. In addition to Fleming's 41 saves, Magliocco had 31 stops to earn the tie for the visitors.
 
Manhattanville will play its first road games of the season next weekend, when the Valiants travel to Aston, Pa., to take on Neumann for a two-game weekend series beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. at Ice Works.