RYE, N.Y. - A three-goal swing by King's saw the Manhattanville men's hockey team fall 5-4 in overtime on Saturday afternoon for the regular season finale. With the loss, the Valiants slip to 9-16-0 and a 9-11-0 mark in UCHC play. The Valiants now wait to find their seeding, currently sitting in fourth place in the standings, two points ahead of Alvernia, who have the game in hand, playing later today. 

Prior to the start of Saturday's contest, the Valiants recognized their senior class of four for their contributions on and off the ice. Dan Barry (St. Louis, Missouri/Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)), AJ Bella (Norwalk, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)), Michael Chris (North Caldwell, N.J./Philadelphia Jr. Flyers (EHL)), and Tristan Frese (Broomfield, CO/Jersey Hitmen (NCDC)) were all recognized with a pre-game ceremony as they all get set for graduation at the conclusion of the spring semester. 

Manhattanville started off the contest too much of the same tune as yesterday, with Artem Mateichenko (Kharkov, Ukraine/New Hampshire Avalanche (EHL)) finishing off a play from James Gregory (Darien, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) and Ryan McKenna (Spokane, Wash./Sheridan Hawks (NA3HL)), 12:31 into the first period to put the Valiants up 1-0 in the opening twenty minutes. Later in the period, the Valiants would find their penalty kill unit out on the ice, as Justin Fernet (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Taft School) headed to the box for cross-checking. The Monarchs would connect on their first power play opportunity, scoring 1:45 in the timeframe with the extra man when Denys Arkhypenko tied the contest at 1-all going into the first intermission. 

King's took their first lead of the weekend five minutes into the second period when Ethan Hersant corralled the puck in the offensive zone, firing it home to be the Valiants netminder to take the 2-1 lead. Manhattanville would answer back with McKenna netting his second of the series a minute later from a Gregory assist to level the score at 2-2. The Valiants would get the man advantage from a tripping call, capitalizing with the extra skater after Lucas Baksay (Fairfield, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) screened the goaled, tipping a shot in from Bella to retake the 3-2 lead. Manhattanville would find another to give themselves a two-goal cushion when Corey Popowcer (Parkland, Fla./Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)) found Johno Hoins (Telluride, Colo./The Frederick Gunn School) across the ice, powering it home for the 4-2 margin. Hersant would net his brace on a power play for the Monarchs, when Fernet was called for a five-minute major penalty, slicing into the Valiants lead and putting the game at 4-3 with ten seconds remaining in the second stanza. 

The third period was nothing like the last five periods of action in the series, with both respective goaltenders locking down their creases, with the King's netminder saving all fifteen shots faced. With just under one minute remaining after a stoppage in play, the Monarchs pulled their goaltender in favor of the extra skater. Jakub Viedemann unleashed a slapshot from the point, popping the bottle and tying the contest at 4-all to push the game into overtime. 

In overtime, the Monarchs would score the game-winning goal from the stick of Brendan Krawczyk from a cross-ice pass from Viedemann with just twenty-five seconds remaining in the period, for the 5-4 victory. 

Tripp Clarke (Cazenovia, N.Y./Northern Cyclones (USPHL Premier)) was tabbed with the loss in the net for the Valiants. The sophomore produced 41 saves, bringing his total on the season up to 175. 

The Monarchs dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 49 draws compared to the 29 wins by the Valiants. Elijah Devereaux (Webster, N.Y./Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (NA3HL)) paced the Valiants with ten wins, followed by McKenna with eight, rounded out by Caden Eaton (Indian River, Mich./Cornwall Colts (CCHL)) with seven. 

The Valiants power play was effective, going 2-for-5 in their 7:16 with the extra skater. On the contrary, King's produced the same results in the eight opportunities, firing 19 shots in the 14:33 with the man advantage. 

Up Next 

The Valiants now wait to see their seeding in the UCHC postseason tournament. More information about Manhattanville's First Round matchup on Wednesday will be available on GoValiants.com later this weekend. 

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