BUFFALO, N.Y. – In a battle of two top-15 ranked teams, the championship matchup of the Front Row Sports Men's Hockey Classic Saturday evening, Nov. 2, did not disappoint as Manhattanville College and Adrian College played to a 3-3 overtime stalemate, which goes in the books officially as a tie. However, since the Buffalo State College tournament required a champion, a second scoreless overtime period, followed by a shootout, ultimately crowned the Bulldogs as the winners.
 
The Valiants (1-0-1), ranked No. 14 in the preseason USCHO (United States College Hockey Online) Division III poll, had cruised to a 5-2 win the day prior over the hosting Bengals, and continued their strong play tonight against No. 7-ranked Adrian (1-0-1). The Bulldogs outshot the Crimson and White 15-6 in the first period, but rookie goalie Alexei Masanko (West Milford, N.J./Kingston Voyageurs (OJHL)) – in his collegiate debut – stopped them all. He finished the night with an outstanding 39 stops on 42 attempts. Unofficially, the freshman netminder also stopped five more in the second overtime, but those saves do not count toward NCAA statistics.
 
The second period saw Adrian outshoot Manhattanville 11-7 and the Bulldogs converted on three. In a man-down situation, Adrian was able to score shorthanded for the first goal of the game just over three minutes in and take the 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later, however, sophomore Alex Rowella (Ridgefield, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) was able to convert on the Valiants' powerplay with a goal of his own – his second of the season – to tie it up at 1-1, assisted by classmate Niko Happo (Kauniainen, Finland/Syracuse Stars/New Jersey Hitmen (NCDC)) and rookie Connor Boyce (St. Albans, Vt./Connecticut RoughRiders (EHL)). Unfortunately, Adrian was able to once again take the lead less the 10 minutes later on an even-strength goal at 13:37 to make it 2-1. Then, with less the two minutes remaining until the intermission, the Bulldogs got one more to make it a 3-1 game after two periods of play.
 
A powerplay opportunity for each team was how the early going of the third went, but neither was able to capitalize. Manhattanville then earned its second man-advantage of the period and fourth of the game at 7:54 into the third following a high-sticking call. Senior Ken McLean (New Rochelle, N.Y./New York Bobcats (EHL)) was able to put the puck past the Adrian goalie just 27 seconds in and make it a 3-2 game. Rookie Josh Fletcher (Calgary, Alb./Kindersley Klippers (SJHL)) scored the biggest goal of the game for the Crimson and White – the first of his collegiate career – to tie it up at 3-3 with just under 6:30 remaining in regulation.
 
Neither team scored for the remainder the third and to overtime they went. Neither team scored in the first overtime, as the Valiants were outshot 4-0, but Masanko stopped all four. Following four periods of play, the game officially went into the books as a tie, but a tournament champion was to be crowned. Adrian outshot Manhattanville 5-0 in the second overtime, but all were once again stymied by the rookie Valiant goaltender. The Bulldogs took the first attempt in the shootout, but missed, followed by junior Braedan Cross (Sechelt, B.C./Cochrane Crunch (CJHL)) whose shot was saved by the Adrian netminder. The Bulldogs scored on their next – and final – shot and the game was decided following a missed attempt by McLean of Manhattanville.
 
Highlights:

• Rowella finished with a goal and an assist and was 12-for-22 in the faceoff dot.
• Happo notched a pair of assists on the night.
• All-Tournament Team:
  • After the completion of the game, a six-man All-Tournament Team was selected, and featured Rowella and senior Joel Knight (Stoney Creak, Ont./Markham Royals (OJHL)) of the Valiants.

Following a strong start to the season with a pair of tough non-conference matchups, the Crimson and White return to Playland Ice Casino to open up home ice play for the 2019-20 season. The Valiants will play host to No. 13 Utica College Friday night, Nov. 8 at 7:00 p.m. in a rematch of last season's contentious United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) Championship Series battle, during which Manhattanville ultimately came out on top following a 5-2 game one loss, a 4-3 game two win and a decisive 2-1 victory in the tiebreaking mini-game. The Valiants had lost 10 straight to the Pioneers, but their NCAA berth-clinching victory halted that skid. Overall, Utica holds a slim 26-24-5 lead in the all-time series, which began back in January of 2002.