ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The regular season for the Manhattanville College men's hockey team concluded on Sunday as the Valiants dropped a 3-2 contest at Nazareth. Manhattanville closes out the schedule with a 9-12-3 record overall and a 6-9-3 mark in conference play, securing the No. 6 seed for next week's UCHC Conference Championship.

A pair of first period Golden Flyer goals was too much for the Valiants to fight back from, as Manhattanville was held to just 15 total shots through the first two periods. Goals from Henry McKinney and Nick Charron carried a 2-0 Nazareth lead into the third period.

Manhattanville was able to finally find some offensive success in the third, doubling their shot total of the afternoon with 15 over the final 20 minutes. Niko Happo (Kauniainen, Finland/Haukilahti Upper Secondary School) got the Valiants on the board as a result of the sustained pressure, scoring his seventh of the year assisted by Jamie Dorsey (Wilbraham, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon) at 12:39. While Nazareth was held to just three shots in the final period, the Golden Flyers were able to reestablish their two goal lead ten seconds after Happo lit the lamp.

It took a little over a minute for the Valiants to pull back within a single goal after Jarod Lavallee (Cumberland, Maine/Greely) scored off feeds from Happo and Artem Mateichenko (Kharkov, Ukraine/NVK Dominanta) at 13:51. The Valiants fired seven shots on goal over the final six minutes looking for the equalizer, but Matt Sayles slammed the door and kept the puck out of the Nazareth net for the rest of the period.

Reid Robertson (Plano, Texas/Plano West) made 29 saves in the loss. The senior goaltender will enter the postseason with a 2.55 goals against average and an .898 save percentage on the season. Nazareth was in firm control in the faceoff circles, winning 40 draws to Manhattanville's 19.  Alex Rowella (Ridgefield, Conn./Holy Cross (H.S.)) had a team-high eight faceoff wins for Manhattanville. The Valiants went 0-for-3 on the power play with three total shots while successfully killing off Nazareth's lone man advantage in the second.

The Valiants will be on the road in the opening round of the UCHC Conference Championship beginning on Tuesday. Manhattanville, the No. 6 seed, will take on No. 3 Stevenson at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

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