RYE, N.Y. – It took five shootout rounds to determine the winner of the extra UCHC point, but the Manhattanville College men's hockey team was able to outlast Lebanon Valley on Tuesday afternoon to secure the two points on the day. With the 1-0 shootout victory following the 2-2 regulation tie, the Valiants move to 8-7-3 overall and 5-5-3 in the UCHC, now tied with Nazareth for third place in the conference with 20 points.
With neither team successful on their first four shootout attempts,
Jarod Lavallee (Cumberland, Maine/Greely) took the puck from center ice to begin round number five, finally breaking through against the Dutchmen's Ty Franchi to score. With a shootout lead to work with,
Tyler Roy (Brighton, MI/Brighton High School) slammed the door shut with his fifth stop in the one-on-one on Darion Benchich's attempt to secure the two points.
The visiting Dutchmen got the upper hand in the first on what can best be described as a bizarre goal. Mark Kishko carried the puck into the Valiant defensive zone, but his stick snapped on the shot attempt causing the puck to slowly bounce into traffic in front of the net. Alex Borowiec was able to clean up the mess and put Lebanon Valley on top 14:25 into the period.
The score would hold 1-0 in favor of the visitors into the second before the Valiants fired a response. A bad pass was intercepted by the Dutchmen sending a breakaway opportunity heading towards the Manhattanville net. Roy made his way out of his crease to get in front of the puck and knock it loose before a shot attempt could be made, sending the rush back the other way.
Noah Bradley (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) was able to find
Jack McDonough (Westbrook, Ct./La Salle College (H.S.)) who fired it home to tie the game up at 1-1 3:44 into the second.
The tie would not be broken until the third when the Dutchmen's Cade Freer set up shop in front of the Valiants net, collecting a centering attempt and having no trouble burying the puck into the open side of the net. With time winding down,
Alex Rowella (Ridgefield, Conn./Holy Cross (H.S.)) carried the puck into the zone. He sent a cross-ice pass that was met by the stick of
Artem Mateichenko (Kharkov, Ukraine/NVK Dominanta) who was able to knock it into the goal for his third of his rookie campaign.
Nothing came of the open ice in the overtime period, but the Dutchmen had a golden opportunity after the Valiants were whistled for too many men on the ice on a change attempt. This gave the visitors 80 seconds of 4-on-3 play before the end of the period, but the Valiants hung strong as Roy made two final saves to send it to the shootout.
Roy made 28 saves in the effort, stopping all three shots he saw in overtime before holding the Dutchmen scoreless in their five shootout attempts. On the other side, rookie netminder Ty Franchi played extremely well with 42 saves as the Valiants registered their highest shot total in a game since Dec. 3 against Neumann.
Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play, with the Valiants going 0-for-2 with five shots and the Dutchmen held 0-for-4 with eight shots. Faceoffs were 35-32 in favor of Lebanon Valley, with Rowella leading the way for the home squad with 13 wins on the draw.
Up Next
The Valiants are next in action for game three of the current six-game homestand on Friday night, hosting Chatham University at 7 p.m.
