RYE, N.Y. - Manhattanville College men's hockey team head coach David Turco collected his 150th career victory in Friday's 5-2 win over visiting Neumann at Playland Ice Casino. Turco notched his 30th career win at the helm of the men's team, adding onto his total of 120 victories from his time as the skipper of the women's squad. With the result, the Valiants add a tally in the win column for the second straight outing, improving to 6-12-0 on the season with an almost .500, 6-7 in UCHC action.
Mitchell Watson (Calgary Alberta, Canada/Canmore Eagles (AJHL)) lit the lamp three times in the contest, for his first collegiate hat-trick. Watson opened the scoring in the first period with 12:16 elapsed, as he tapped in Lane Paddison's (100 Mile House, Canada/Canmore Eagles (AJHL)) rebound that deflected off the Knights' netminder, for the opening goal. Neumann would answer back later in the period after Tyler Inlow gained possession of the puck deep in the Valiants zone, finding himself one-on-one with the goaltender, and burying it home to tie the contest at 1-1.
In the second period, the Valiants would find themselves with the man advantage leading to Watson bagging his second as he was once again positioned near the net, scoring a backhanded-midair deflection from an AJ Bella (Norwalk, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) slapshot to see Manhattanville retake the lead. The Valiants would sound the horn later in the period after Dan Barry (St. Louis, Missouri/Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)) unleashed a slapshot from the point, whizzing past the glove of the Knights netminder, as they mounted a 3-1 lead. Ryan McKenna (Spokane, Wash./Sheridan Hawks (NA3HL)) would tack on another to the Valiants' lead, as he found the top netting after collecting a loose puck in the center of the ice and firing it home, for the three-goal lead. Neumann would answer back with seconds to spare in the second frame, when the Valiants found themselves down a man and the Knights capitalized with the extra skater. JD Speer finished off a sequence from Cameron Hatziioannou and Joe DiGiulio with just three seconds before the closing bell in the period, to now sit within striking distance as the game stood at 4-2 in the Valiants favor with 20 minutes left to play.
The final stanza was controlled by both goaltenders, as each netminder locked down their respective creases. Neither would allow a shot to come close until there was three minutes left to play, when Watson found his third after receiving the feed from Bella in the slot and firing it past the blocker side with the left-handed wrister for the 5-2 lead. Bella tallied his third assist on the night with the pass, totaling the most in a single game of his career.
Tripp Clarke (Cazenovia, N.Y./Northern Cyclones (USPHL Premier)) earned his second win of the season, after turning in a 22 save performance for a .917 save percentage.
Manhattanville paced the Knights in the circle, holding a 45-33 faceoff advantage. Paddison and Raymond Speerbrecker (Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada/Revelstoke Grizzlies (KIJHL)) both led the Valiants with 13 faceoff wins, as Caden Eaton (Indian River, Mich./Cornwall Colts (CCHL)) closely followed suit with 12 of his own.
The Valiants were able to convert with the man advantage once, going 1-4 on the power play with six total shots, while their counterparts batted 1.000, finishing 1-1 with the extra skater.
Thanks to the victory, The Valiants now sit in sixth place in the conference, looking to pick up the all-important finale of this series.
Up Next
The two squads return to the ice tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. to polish off the series.
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