ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's ice hockey team played to a 4-4 overtime tie on the road Saturday afternoon, Nov. 3, at Nazareth College, with both teams earning a point in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) standings.
 
With the newly instituted UCHC overtime and shootout rules, the two squads played an additional five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period, which ended scoreless as well. That forced a shootout period, with the winner taking an additional point toward the UCHC standings. Senior Oscar Arfelt (Stockholm, Sweden/Connecticut Oilers (EHL)) scored on the first attempt for Manhattanville, as did David Powlowski for Nazareth. Each team missed on their next two attempts, before senior Bryan Platt (Trumbull, Conn./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) was unable to convert on his shootout opportunity. The Golden Flyers' J.R. Wojciechowski was able to beat the Valiants' senior Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)) in what ended up being the final attempt of the game, giving Nazareth the extra point following the 2-1 shootout advantage.
 
All of the statistics that followed regulation and the first overtime period do not count toward NCAA or UCHC statistics, but simply help determine who receives the extra point in the conference standings – with one caveat, all penalties accrued in the extra 3-on-3 period or shootout still count toward the official statistics.
 
The game was extremely tight through, but the Valiants (0-1-1, 0-1-1 UCHC) managed to get on the board first courtesy of senior Jeff Beck's (Broomall, Pa./Philadelphia Junior Flyers (EHL)) first goal of the season. Manhattanville would hold onto that lead through the end of the period, but Nazareth (1-0-3, 0-0-2 UCHC) drew a slashing penalty with 1:23 left before the first intermission. The Golden Flyers capitalized on that man advantage early on in the second period, tying it up at 1-1 just 00:38 in.
 
About nine minutes later, Nazareth scored again to take the 2-1 lead. 15 seconds later, a huge scuffle led to penalties on each team – two minutes to senior Marco Ferraro (Toronto, Ont./St. Michael's Buzzers (OJHL)) for cross-checking and a five-minute major and a 10-minute game misconduct for a hit to the head by Brad Pizzey of the Golden Flyers. Play was 4-on-4 for a bit until sophomore Braeden Cross (Sechelt, B.C./Cochrane Crunch (CJHL)) was called for a holding penalty with 8:41 left in the second, giving Nazareth a brief powerplay. The Valiants were able to hold the home team to just one shot on net before the 30-second man advantage for the Golden Flyers was up. Cross came out of the box with 6:41 remaining, and rookie Niko Happo (Kauniainen, Finland/Grankulla IFK Hockey Club (FIHA)) was able to tie the game on the powerplay for his first-career goal. Unfortunately, Nazareth scored its third goal of the period, again on the powerplay, with just 1:32 left in the second to take the 3-2 lead into the locker room.
 
Scoring was sparse for the majority of the third period before an offensive explosion finally came, starting with Ferraro's first of the season on the powerplay with 3:58 left in regulation. Just 21 seconds later, Beck scored his second of the game to give the Valiants their second lead of the contest at 4-3. Nazareth was able to even it up quickly, though, scoring with 3:01 left in the third period to knot it at 4-4. The teams would then play two scoreless overtime periods, followed by four rounds of a shootout before the Golden Flyers picked up the two points, while Manhattanville came away with one.
 
The Valiants return to the ice for their home opener next Friday night, November 9, against UCHC and Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) rival Lebanon Valley College. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Rye, N.Y., at the Playland Ice Casino.
 
Prior to the game, at 6:45 p.m., Manhattanville will be doing a tribute to the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey club and the 16 lives lost in the tragic bus accident this past April. The Valiants will turn down the arena lights and "Light the Rink," followed by a message dedicated to those who lost their lives and a reading of names. All of that will be proceeded by 16 seconds of silence.