BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's ice hockey team graduated 13 members of last year's NCAA Quarterfinal squad, but that did not slow down the new-look Valiants as the Crimson and White started of 2019-20 with a bang – a 5-2 victory on the road over Buffalo State College Friday night, Nov. 1, in the first round of the Front Row Sports Men's Hockey Classic, hosted by the Bengals.
 
Manhattanville (1-0) entered the night ranked No. 14 in all of Division III in the preseason USCHO (United States College Hockey Online) Top 15 poll, and certainly played like it against hosting Buffalo State (0-1). It was a high-scoring first period, with the Valiants taking the early 2-0 lead. Sitting in an early 5-on-3 penalty kill situation, Manhattanville staved off the Bengal attack to make it 5-on-4 just about two-and-a-half minutes in. Then, at 2:45 into the first and still down a skater, sophomore Jarod Lavallee (Cumberland, Maine/Seacoast Spartans (ECEL)) received the setup from classmate Kyle Miller (Bristol, Conn./Trinity-Pawling) for the game's first score to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later, another sophomore in newly crowned assistant captain Alex Rowella (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) was able to make it 2-0 at 3:29 into the contest, thanks to assists from junior Braedan Cross (Sechelt, B.C./Cochrane Crunch (CJHL)) as well as Lavallee.
 
Just under two minutes later, however, Buff State got on the board and cut the Valiants lead in half at 4:16 to make 2-1. Senior assistant captain Joel Knight (Stoney Creak, Ont./Markham Royals (OJHL)) was then called for slashing on the play as well, giving the Bengals momentum following the score, as well as the 5-on-4 powerplay opportunity. In the final second of the man advantage, Buffalo State scored to tie it at 2-2. Action cooled down for the remainder of the period, as each goalie settled in and the score remained knotted until the first intermission.
 
Nearly 14 minutes went by in the second before scoring resumed. The Bengals were called for a high stick with 12:30 gone in the period, giving the Valiants the powerplay. 1:18 later, Knight was able to tally his first of the season to make it 3-2, with Cross picking up his second helper of the night. Rookie Glynn Robitaille (Northville, Mich./Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)) notched the secondary assist for his first collegiate point as well. Buff State was called again on another penalty, this time elbowing, at 16:25 to give Manhattanville another man advantage, on which the Valiants were also able to capitalize 1:05 later at 17:30. Senior assistant captain Ken McLean (New Rochelle, N.Y./New York Bobcats (EHL)) received a nice feed from Rowella to make it a 4-2 lead, with senior co-captain Tristian Ramage notching the secondary helper.
 
Neither side scored for the remainder of the second, and no offense was had in the third until the waning moments when Lavallee was able to collect his second goal of the game on the empty net with just 00:34 remaining, assisted by Knight.
 
HIGHLIGHTS:

• Rowella won 11 faceoffs as the Valiants' top-line centerman Friday night, while rookie Troy Crosson (Hatfield, Pa./New Jersey Rockets (NCDC)) was 8-for-12 at the dot. Another rookie, Jack McDonough (Princeton, N.J./New Jersey 87s (EHL)), was 7-for-11, while McLean won six.
• Junior Mac Vail (East Elmhurst, N.Y./Philadelphia Jr. Flyers (EHL)) made the start between the pipes for the Crimson and White and picked up with victory with 30 saves on 32 shots.

The Valiants return to the ice tomorrow night, Saturday, Nov. 2, for the title game of the Front Row Sports Men's Hockey Classic. It is an extremely tough early-season test for Manhattanville, as the squad will face No. 7 Adrian College, with puck-drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The two programs have met just once before, with the Crimson and White winning 6-2 back in December of 2010, also on neutral ice.