RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's ice hockey team hopped back into the win column Wednesday night, Jan. 14, as the Valiants defeated Albertus Magnus College 4-1 in the friendly confines of Playland Ice Casino.
 
Sophomore assistant captain Alex Rowella (Ridgefield, Conn./Holy Cross (H.S.)) led the charge for the Crimson and White (6-8-1) with two goals and an assist, now has four points in his last two games and is tied for the team lead with 15 on the season. Rowella, who also won 13-of-23 faceoffs as the second line center, accomplished all this despite serving three penalties, including a 10-minute misconduct late in the first period.
 
Junior netminder Mac Vail (East Elmhurst, N.Y./Baccalaureate School for Global Education) had a much-needed strong night in goal for Manhattanville as well, stopping 39 of 40 shots from Albertus (3-12-2) to notch his sixth victory of the season. His sturdy night between the pipes was a necessity for the Valiants, as the home squad successfully killed of 10 of the Falcons 11 powerplay opportunities.
 
Manhattanville took the first lead of the game at the 7:49 mark into the first when Rowella scored his eighth of the season on the powerplay, assisted by sophomore Niko Happo (Kauniainen, Finland/Haukilahti Upper Secondary School) and senior assistant captain Ken McLean (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle). Happo took the puck in the corner, found McLean in the slot, who hit Rowella backdoor for the score. Vail stopped all 12 shots in the first period and the Valiants took that 1-0 lead into the intermission.
 
The Crimson and White doubled their lead with another score on the man-advantage midway through the second at 10:01 to make it 2-0. Rookie Jack McDonough (Princeton, N.J./La Salle College (H.S.)) notched his second goal of the season – assisted by Rowella and Happo – with the play virtually mirroring Rowella's first goal of the game. Happo is tied with Rowella for team lead in points at 15. Neither team would score again in the period and after 40 minutes, the Valiants led 2-0.
 
Early on in the third period, Rowella scored once again with his team-leading ninth of the year – assisted by senior Braedan Cross (Sechelt, B.C./Shawnigan Lake) and sophomore Jarod Lavallee (Cumberland, Maine/Greely). Lavallee dumped the puck into the offensive zone corner, where Cross centered a pass in front for Rowella to put away. Manhattanville's final goal of the game came at 14:24 into the third to make it 4-0 thanks to an outstanding individual effort on the powerplay from McLean, with rookies Connor Boyce (St. Albans, Vt./The Winchendon School) and Dylan Pollak (New Fairfield, Conn./South Kent School) assisting on the score. The Falcons scored their only goal of the game with just over 30 seconds left as the Valiants took the 4-1 win.
 
Manhattanville returns to the ice for a United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) home contest this Saturday night, Jan. 18, at 7:00 p.m. against Neumann University. The Valiants lead the Knights 31-15 all-time and most recently swept last season's two-game series.