RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's hockey team picked up their first win of the season in dramatic fashion, defeating King's College 6-5 in overtime on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Valiants improve to 1-2 on the season and are at .500 in conference play with a 1-1 record.
Manhattanville had six different goal scorers on the day, but the most pivotal one was
James Gregory (Darien, CT/Darien High School). The freshman defender used the open ice available in the 3-on-3 overtime period to collect a pass from
Niko Happo (Kauniainen, Finland/Haukilahti Upper Secondary School) and fire home the game-winner with the first goal of his career and get the Valiants into the win column for the first time in 2021.
In what proved to be a wild affair, the Valiants staked claim to a 2-0 lead during the first period.
AJ Bella (Norwalk, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) collected his first collegiate point with a goal seven minutes in, assisted by
Josh Fletcher (Calgary, Alb./Central Memorial) and
Kyle Miller (Bristol, Conn./Trinity-Pawling). The lead would hold there for another ten minutes before
Noah Bradley's (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) unassisted score pushed the lead to 2-0. While the Valiants looked poised to take the two-score advantage into the locker room, the Monarchs had other plans, as King's rushed down the ice to set up Jakub Viedemann with a goal with 0.4 seconds left in the period.
With King's making magic happen in a matter of seconds, the Valiants showed off a quick score of their own to begin the second, as
Jarod Lavallee (Cumberland, Maine/Greely) was able to score a short-handed goal from
Mason Emoff (Collingwood, Ont./Bishop's College School) and
Ben Steele (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) 21 seconds into the second. The Monarchs responded 10 minutes later with their own shorty, as Josh Edwards pulled the Monarchs to within one. The visiting team would find the equalizer 12 minutes into the period courtesy of Luke Babilon. The tie would be short-lived, as Taylor Hayden put the Vals back on top after feeds from
Alex Rowella (Ridgefield, Conn./Holy Cross (H.S.)) and
Dylan Pollak (New Fairfield, Conn./South Kent School) a minute and a half later. Not to be outdone in the wild second period, the Monarchs struck last on a power play goal by Jack Cooper to head into the third even at 4-4.
The Valiants would collect their second shorthanded goal of the day as Rowella put the home team back in front five minutes into the period. Fletcher and Steele helped set up the senior forward. Cooper would net his second of the day for the Monarchs a minute later, setting the stage for Gregory's overtime heroics.
After playing two periods in yesterday's contest,
Tyler Roy (Brighton, MI/Brighton High School) got the nod for the start and complete game in net for the Valiants, earning his first win as a member of the Valiants. The junior goaltender made 27 saves in the victory. Manhattanville held a slight 41-36 advantage in faceoffs, with Lavallee leading the squad with 15 wins.
Up Next
The Valiants begin a five-game road trip on Friday, traveling to Pennsylvania to take on Lebanon Valley at 7 p.m.
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