MIDDLEBURY, VT. – Taking part in the final athletic contest of 2022, the Manhattanville College men's hockey team closed out the year with a 4-3 win in the opening round of the Middlebury Holiday Classic against the hosting Panthers. With the win, the Valiants improve to 6-5-0 overall and will begin the new year playing for a championship in tomorrow's tournament finals.

A three goal first period put Manhattanville in control of the contest through the opening 20 minutes. However, it would be Middlebury lighting the lamp first on the day as Tucker Lamb fired a puck past Manhattanville netminder Sebastian Woods (Limehouse, Ontario, Canada/Utica Jr. Comets (NCDC)) 8:36 into the contest to put the home team ahead in the early going.

It took a while for the Valiant offense to find its footing, but Manhattanville began to click over the final four minutes of the period with three goals before the horn sounded. Hayden Taylor (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Islanders Hockey Club (NCDC)) brought the game even with his fourth goal of the season, an unassisted tally at 16:04. Exactly one minute later, it would be Lane Paddison (100 Mile House, Canada/Canmore Eagles (AJHL)) earning the Valiants their first lead of the day as the rookie notched his first collegiate goal off assists from Mitchell Watson (Calgary Alberta, Canada/Canmore Eagles (AJHL)) and Artem Mateichenko (Kharkov, Ukraine/New Hampshire Avalanche (EHL)). It appeared the Valiants would be taking the one goal advantage into the first intermission, but AJ Bella (Norwalk, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) had other plans, scoring on the power play with less than nine seconds to go from Mateichenko and James Gregory (Darien, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) to make the score 3-1 after one. For Bella, it was his team-leading eighth score of the year.

In a relatively quiet second period, the Panthers pulled back within one 14:36 into the frame as Cole Joslin found the back of the net. Woods successfully stopped each of the other 13 shots fired his way over the ensuing 20 minutes to keep the Valiants in front.

Middlebury continued to put pucks on net in the third, outshooting the Valiants 14-3 over the final 20 minutes of regulation. While the Manhattanville chances were limited, Josh Fletcher (Calgary, Alb./Kindersley Klippers (SJHL)) made the most of his opportunity with the puck, scoring a big insurance tally 6:25 into the frame off feeds from Tristan Frese (Broomfield, CO/Jersey Hitmen (NCDC)) and Dylan Pollak (New Fairfield, Conn./Selects Academy (18U AAA)). The senior's goal was his second of the year and would go on to be the game-winner as the Panthers continued to turn up the heat, looking to get back into the game. With just over seven minutes to go, Jin Lee cashed in for the Panthers to once again make it a one score game. That would be all for the home team as Woods stood tall the rest of the way to secure the victory.

In all, it was the busiest day in the crease that Woods has had in his collegiate career. The rookie goaltender played all 60 minutes, making a career-high 43 saves. He made 17 stops in the first period before back-to-back periods of 13 saves. Woods carries a .911 save percentage and a 3.04 goals-against average into the new year.

The Panthers were in firm control of the faceoff circle, winning 39 draws to Manhattanville's 23. Paddison saw the most success for the Valiants with eight wins on the dot. The Valiants went 1-for-4 on their power play opportunities while successfully killing off both Middlebury man advantages.

Up Next
The Valiants advance to the Middlebury Holiday Classic Championship, looking to begin 2023 as tournament champions. Manhattanville takes on the winner of tonight's contest between No. 15 University of New England and SUNY Cortland at 5 p.m. tomorrow.

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