PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Despite being almost doubled up in shots on goal, the Manhattanville College men's ice hockey team stayed in contention for the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) playoffs with a big victory on Friday night, Feb. 7, over Chatham University. Junior netminder Mac Vail (East Elmhurst, N.Y./Baccalaureate School for Global Education) made 41 stops between the pipes for the Valiants in the 5-2 win, while rookie forward Nick Prestia (Niagara Falls, Ont./Salisbury School) had a goal and an assist.
 
The Crimson and White (8-11-2, 5-8-1 UCHC) jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead early on in the first period over the Cougars (3-17, 2-11 UCHC), including the first-career goal scored by rookie Hayden Taylor (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Detroit Country Day). Chatham was called for slashing at just 2:11 into the period, and 10 seconds later, Taylor – assisted by seniors Ken McLean (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) and Ryan Jackson (Montreal, Que./Pomfret School) – put one in the back of the net for the first time as a collegian.
 
Just over three minutes later, freshman Glynn Robitaille (Northville, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central) scored an even strength goal to make it 2-0 at 5:37. The Valiants got one more from Prestia at the close of the period with 2:14 remaining to take a 3-0 advantage into the intermission. Early on into the second, Manhattanville put one more on the board off the stick of junior Tristan Ramage (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Central Catholic) – assisted by rookie Josh Fletcher (Calgary, Alb./Central Memorial) – to make it 4-0 with 4:40 gone. That would be the only goal of the period.
 
The Cougars got one back midway through the third to make it 4-1, but just over two minutes later at 13:37, another rookie – Mason Emoff (Collingwood, Ont./Bishop's College School) – registered his first-career goal to make it 5-1. Prestia and fellow freshman Jack McDonough (Princeton, N.J./La Salle College (H.S.)) assisted on the score. Chatham snuck one more in before the close of the night and the Valiants came away with the 5-2 victory.
 
Highlights:

• McLean finished with two assists and was 12-of-15 at the faceoff dot.
• Rookie Noah Bradley (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) was 13-of-24 in the circle and notched an assist as well.
• Junior Jamie Dorsey (Wilbraham, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon) and sophomore Niko Happo (Kauniainen, Finland/Haukilahti Upper Secondary School) also added assists. Happo continues to lead the Valiants in assists (24) and points (26).

Manhattanville is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 8, in Reisterstown, Md., for a 3:00 p.m. meeting with Stevenson University. The Valiants lead the Mustangs 4-3 all-time and are looking to split the season series.