PURCHASE, N.Y. – For just the second time in the last 10 years, the Manhattanville College men's hockey team will begin its quest for an ECAC West Conference Tournament championship on the road, as the sixth-seeded Valiants travel to third-seeded Nazareth College in a first-round matchup on Wednesday, February 25 at 7:00 p.m. at Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex in Rochester, N.Y.
 
Tickets for the game are $5.00 for adults and students, but fans that can't make it up to Rochester for the game can follow along with live video and live stats, both of which can be accessed via GoValiants.com.
 
Manhattanville (7-13-5, 2-11-2 ECAC West) will look for an upset after a difficult conference schedule that placed the squad sixth out of six teams. Nazareth (11-9-5, 7-4-4 ECAC West) is hosting a conference tournament game for the first time in the program's three-year history after a third-place finish in the regular-season standings, one point behind second-place Neumann.
 
The Valiants will be making their 16th consecutive appearance in the ECAC West Tournament this week. Manhattanville is 12-11 all-time in the conference tournament, but is 11-6 over the last 10 seasons and has won four ECAC West Tournament titles (2005, 2007, 2008, 2010) during that time.
 
Manhattanville and Nazareth have never met in the ECAC West Tournament and have split nine all-time regular-season meetings, 4-4-1. The Golden Flyers are still looking for their first conference tournament victory, having been bounced in the first round in each of the program's first two seasons.
 
Manhattanville went winless (0-2-1) in three games against Nazareth during the regular season. The Golden Flyers coasted to a 5-0 victory in Rochester on November 21, scoring three times in the first period on the way to the victory. The Valiants arguably should have earned a win in the second meeting at Playland on February 6, as the home team held a 3-0 lead and a 5-3 lead but could not hold either advantage in a 5-5 (OT) tie. Manhattanville led 2-1 after one period the next night as well, but the Golden Flyers scored the final three goals of the game in a 4-2 win.
 
Manhattanville will need to increase the scoring production in the postseason after averaging a conference-low 2.04 goals per game that ranks 68th in Division III. Sophomore Teagan Waugh (Nanaimo, B.C./Powell River Kings (BCHL)) and freshman Stephen Gaul (Downers Grove, Ill./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) lead the team with 15 points apiece this season, with Waugh netting a team-best nine goals and Gaul chipping in eight. Senior Eric McClure (Mitchell, Ont./Thorold Blackhawks (OJHL)) leads the team with 11 assists so far this season as well.
 
The Valiants will need to rely on its defense and the play of senior netminder Brian Fleming (Saint John, N.B./Northern Cyclones (AJHL)), who ranks fourth in the conference with a 2.73 goals against average and .918 save percentage. Fleming has started 22 games this season, posting a 6-12-4 record with one shutout and a conference-best 672 saves. He enters the postseason 21 saves from a new school single-season record.
 
Manhattanville will also need to lean heavily on its penalty kill, which leads the conference and ranks 11th in the country by succeeding at an 86.2 percent (81 of 94) clip this year.
 
Nazareth enters this week fourth in the conference and 34th in D-III by averaging 3.08 goals per game. Sophomore Ben Blasko ranks second in the conference in points thanks to five goals and a conference-leading 24 assists, followed by Oliver Janzen, who leads all ECAC West freshmen with 11 goals and 21 points on the season. Junior Don Olivieri also paces all conference blueliners with 19 points on nine goals and 10 assists as well.
 
The Golden Flyer defensive unit is led by junior netminder Ed Zdolshek, who ranks fifth among ECAC West goaltenders with a 2.77 goals against average and a .918 save percentage.
 
The winner of Wednesday's game will advance to the semifinal round of the ECAC West Tournament, which will take place on Saturday at Hobart and Neumann. The top-seeded Statesmen will host the lowest remaining seed at the Geneva Recreation Center at 7:30 p.m., while the second-seeded Knights will welcome the highest remaining seed to Ice Works for a 4 p.m. faceoff.