BOSTON, MASS. – The Manhattanville College men's ice hockey team faces off with host University of Massachusetts-Boston tonight, Saturday, March 9, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship.
 
The Valiants, ranked No. 15 in the most recent D3hockey.com Top 15 poll and are receiving 25 votes to rank them 16th unofficially in the most recent USCHO.com Top 15 poll, will travel to the home of the Beacons, who are ranked No. 9 and No. 11, respectively.
 
CONFERENCE RECAP
Manhattanville is fresh off a hard-fought championship series victory in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) tournament last weekend, Saturday and Sunday, March 2-3, over frontrunner Utica College. UMass-Boston, the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) regular season champion, enters the game following a 15-day break after having last played in a 4-0 loss to Hobart College in their tournament semifinals.
 
VALIANT VAULT
The Valiants are led by UCHC co-Player of the Year and senior assistant captain Matt Lippa (Richmond Hill, Ont./Oakville Blades (OJHL)) and his team-high 44 points – he is currently third all-time in program history with 114 for his career. Defensively, senior blueliners Oscar Arfelt (Stockholm, Sweden/Connecticut Oilers (EHL)) and Marco Ferraro (Toronto, Ont./St. Michael's Buzzers (OJHL)) – both First Team All-UCHC selections – are second and third on Manhattanville in scoring with 32 and 25 points, respectively.
 
BEACON BULLETIN
UMass-Boston goes offensively as junior Noal Redler goes. The third-year forward has a team-high 34 points with 19 goals. The strength of the Beacons is in net, however, as junior netminder Bailey MacBurnie ranks in the top 10 nationally with a 1.72 goals against average – he also sports a .931 save percentage.
 
WHO | WHAT | WHERE | WHEN | HOW
The Valiants and Beacons will clash for the first time ever in the NCAA First Round Saturday night. The two squads will meet at the Edward T. Barry Ice Rink on UMass-Boston's campus, with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
 
Ticket are on sale for just $4 on site, but if you cannot make it to support the Valiants, you can tune into the broadcast of the game at www.govaliants.com/live.