RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's hockey team wrapped up the first half of the 2023-23 campaign on Tuesday night, dropping their final contest of the calendar year 7-2 to the visiting Connecticut College. The Valiants will carry a 4-8-0 overall record into the holiday break following the loss.

The Camels put up three goals in the opening period to take firm control of the contest. Tallies from Kei Yasuda, Rocco Testa-Basi and Reid Shafer had the visitors leading 3-0, with Connecticut outshooting Manhattanville 17-9 over the opening 20 minutes.

While the Valiants were able to contain the Camel attack better in the second, Connecticut furthered their lead up to 4-0 as Michael DiMascolo scored at the 13:06 mark. Manhattanville would continue to be held off the board as the team was limited to eight shots on net in the period.

The Valiants finally found an answer for Kellen Beauton in the Connecticut crease 2:01 into the third. Ryan McKenna (Spokane, Wash./Sheridan Hawks (NA3HL)) broke up the shutout after tipping in a slap shot from Justin Fernet (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Taft School), redirecting the puck past Beauton. Tristan D'Elia (West Chester, Pa./Philadelphia Little Flyers (EHL)) would earn the secondary assist on the goal, McKenna's first of his collegiate career that made the score 4-1.

Manhattanville struck again at 7:34. After Caden Eaton (Indian River, Mich./Cornwall Colts (CCHL)) won the faceoff in the offensive zone, passes from D'Elia and McKenna worked the puck to the stick of Corey Popowcer (Parkland, Fla./Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)), who ripped a shot from deep in the zone past the Camel netminder to cut the deficit in half.

While the ice seemed to begin to tilt in the direction of Manhattanville following their pair of goals, the Camels snuffed out any comeback attempt with three more goals in the period. Cole Eichler and Will Winship would each find the back of the net before DiMascolo wrapped up the explosive offensive night for Connecticut with his second of the game.

William Billequey (Montreal, Quebec/Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)) would take the loss in net for Manhattanville, surrendering six goals while making 37 stops. It was the freshman's highest save total of his young career.

Manhattanville was outshot 44-29 in the loss. Nicholas Rogers (Broad Channel, N.Y./Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (NA3HL)) finished with a team-high four shots on net.

The Valiants held a narrow 34-30 faceoff advantage, with Eaton winning a team-leading 14 draws.

Manhattanville's power play finished 0-for-4 on the night, logging five shots in their eight minutes with the extra skater. The Valiants penalty kill held firm, successfully blanking the Camels on their five power play chances.

Up Next
It will be close to a month until the Valiants return to the ice when they open up the second half of the calendar on Jan. 2 when they host Cortland at 3 p.m.

VALIANTS on SOCIAL MEDIA For the latest on Manhattanville Athletics, follow the Valiants via social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads and YouTube. #WeAreValiant #GoValiants