RYE, N.Y. – Neumann University scored five straight goals from five different players to erase an early deficit and cruise to a 5-2 ECAC West Conference victory over the Manhattanville College men's hockey team in both teams' regular-season finale on Friday night at Playland Ice Casino.
 
Neumann (13-8-4, 9-5-1 ECAC West) clinches a top-two seed and a first-round bye in the upcoming ECAC West Conference Tournament with the victory. Manhattanville (7-13-5, 2-11-2 ECAC West), which already had been locked into the sixth seed before the weekend, will play third-seeded Nazareth College in the ECAC West first round on Wednesday.
 
Five different players found the net for the Knights and only two skaters had multi-point nights, with Chris Bournazos scoring once and adding an assist and Mike Davis adding a pair of helpers. Sophomore Phil Dinner (Simsbury, Conn./Connecticut Oilers (EJHL)) and freshman Matt Smethurst (Clifton Park, N.Y./New York Apple Core (EJHL)) had the goals for Manhattanville in a losing effort.
 
The Valiant power play got the home team on the board first on Friday night, when Dinner fit a puck through a screen and past Neumann netminder Ben Curley for his third goal of the year at 5:37 of the opening period. Manhattanville maintained the lead for over 11 minutes before Liam Board blocked a shot at the defensive blue line and took it all the way for a breakaway score that evened the game at one at 16:47.
 
The second period proved to be Manhattanville's downfall on Friday, as Neumann scored four straight goals to open up a 5-1 lead after two periods. Shayne Morrissey netted a power-play tally 6:33 into the period, and then the visitors scored three times in the final 5:20 of the frame to take a big lead into the third period.
 
The Valiants got one goal back with 8:44 left when Smethurst put home the rebound of a shot from classmate Fabian Andark (Stockholm, Sweden/Vaxjo Lakers VHL (SWE)) for the freshman's first collegiate goal.
 
Curley earned the win by making 31 saves on 33 shots for Neumann. Senior Brian Fleming (Saint John, N.B./Northern Cyclones (AJHL)) suffered the loss, ceding five goals on 24 shots over the first two periods before junior Kurt Williams (Rocky Mountain House, Alta./Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)) came on to stop all 10 shots he faced in the final stanza.
 
Manhattanville will head to the ECAC West Tournament on Wednesday with a first-round matchup at Nazareth. A game time for Wednesday's contest and a full tournament preview will be available on GoValiants.com on Monday.