RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's ice hockey team picked up the 4-1 victory over Nichols College Sunday afternoon, Jan. 13, in the friendly confines of Playland Ice Casino.
 
The Valiants (8-5-2) dominated the Bison (8-7-1) in scoring opportunities all game long, ending the afternoon with a 43-23 shots-on-goal advantage.
 
The first period started fast for Manhattanville, who, as mentioned, controlled the shooting opportunities all game long. Unfortunately, an ill-timed turnover in the defensive zone did the Valiants in and Hogan Davidson of Nichols was able to capitalize by sniping one past home goalie Mac Vail (East Elmhurst, N.Y./Philadelphia Jr. Flyers (EHL)) with just 6:39 remaining until the first intermission – that would be Vail's only blemish of the game as the sophomore picked up his fifth victory of the season with 22 saves.
 
The Valiants came back exactly three minutes later to score their first of the game. Rookie Alex Rowella (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) ripped a shot on net that was fought off by Nichols' goalie Brett Epp, but the Bison netminder was unable to handle the rebound and sophomore Braeden Cross (Sechelt, B.C./Cochrane Crunch (CJHL)) jumped all over it for the score at 16:21 – Rowella and senior assistant captain Bryan Platt (Trumbull, Conn./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) were credited with the assists.
 
Just before the intermission, Manhattanville was called for two quick penalties and were forced to start the second on a 5-on-3 penalty kill. The Valiants were able to kill off senior Cory Anderson's (Bakersfield, Calif./Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL)) penalty without allowing a shot on net through 1:07 into the period, and then Vail was only forced to make one save before the completion of senior assistant captain Ryan Jackson's (Montreal, Que./Hawkesbury Hawks (CCHL)) penalty with 1:21 gone. Then, just over a minute later, junior Kenny McLean (New Rochelle, N.Y./New York Bobcats (EHL)) scored what turned out to be the game-winner – assisted by senior co-captain Eric Berglund (Sollentuna, Sweden/Islanders Hockey Club (USPHL)) and senior assistant captain Matt Lippa (Richmond Hill, Ont./Oakville Blades (OJHL)) – with 2:42 gone in the second.
 
With the 2-1 lead to begin the third, Manhattanville scored two more to put the victory away over the Bison. The first came from Lippa at 8:43 – from Miller and Berglund – and the second came with just seven seconds remaining from Anderson on the empty net. Platt and junior Joel Knight (Stoney Creak, Ont./Markham Royals (OJHL)) were credited with the assists.
 
Highlights:
- The two teams were very even on faceoffs, with Manhattanville holding the slight edge 43-40.
- Lippa, Platt and Berglund led the Valiants with two points apiece. Berglund and Platt each had a pair of assists, while Lippa had a goal and an assist.
- Lippa now leads the Valiants with 10 goals and 24 points and is currently tied for 14th in all of Division II/III in points per game with 1.6.
- Senior Nigel Slade (St. Catherines, Ont./Niagara Falls Canucks (GOJHL)) was 12-of-22 from the faceoff dot, while McLean was 12-of-21.
 
Manhattanville is now off until Friday night, Jan. 18, when United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) rival Nazareth College comes to Playland. Puck-drop between the Valiants and Golden Flyers is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.