PURCHASE, N.Y. – For the fourth-straight season, the Manhattanville College men's hockey team have cliched a postseason berth! In the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) Quarterfinals, the No. 5 Valiants will look to take on the No. 4 Alvernia University Golden Wolves on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.
    Manhattanville hosted the Monarchs of King's College this past weekend and split the series, with a 6-0 shutout win on Friday evening and a tough 5-4 overtime loss on Saturday afternoon. In the series finale, Mateichenko would get the Valiants on the board first before a three-goal second period from Ryan McKenna (Spokane, Wash./Sheridan Hawks (NA3HL)), Lucas Baksay (Fairfield, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)), and Johno Hoins (Telluride, Colo./The Frederick Gunn School). Both teams would be held scoreless through the final period until Jakub Viedemann would score for the Monarchs with 31 seconds to go in regulation to tie it up, 4-4. Once in overtime, Brendan Krawczyk would find the back of the net at 4:34 to complete their most successful season in program history and earn their first postseason berth. For the Valiants, they would end the season 9-11-0 in conference play with 29 points total which would bump them to the fifth seed in the tournament.

The Golden Wolves closed out their regular season with a 3-2 win over Lebanon Valley. They would end the year 10-9-1 in conference play with 30 total points, surpassing the Valiants to secure the fourth seed. This will be Alvernia's first home playoff game in men's hockey program history.

Last Time Out

The Valiants and Golden Wolves met back in December at the Body Zone in Reading, Pa. with a series sweep coming from Manhattanville. In net, Sebastian Woods (Limehouse, Ontario, Canada/Utica Jr. Comets (NCDC)) would total 72 saves between the two games while the offense dominated with six goals on 70 shots. In Friday's tilt, Lane Paddison (100 Mile House, Canada/Canmore Eagles (AJHL)) would have an all-around game on the ice scoring a goal, adding an assist and winning 18 total faceoffs. AJ Bella (Norwalk, Conn./Connecticut Roughriders (EHL)) would capitalize on the lead with a power play goal to close out the opening frame. Mateichenko would earn an assist on each goal. In Saturday's rematch, Hoins would lead the charge with a pair of goals as Bella and Paddison would each light the lamp again. They would dish out an assist apiece on the day as Mateichenko would tally another, along with Justin Fernet (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Taft School), Raymond Speerbrecker (Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada/Revelstoke Grizzlies (KIJHL)), and Nicholas Rogers (Broad Channel, N.Y./Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (NA3HL)).

Alvernia will once again have home ice advantage where they have gone 5-7-1 in the 2023-24 campaign and in only their second season, the Golden Wolves will be making their second UCHC postseason appearance.

Team Leaders
Manhattanville

• Points: Mateichenko (27), Bella (22), Paddison (15)
• Goals: Bella (13), Paddison and McKenna (7), Hoins (6)
• Assists: Mateichenko (22), Bella and Watson and Gregory (9)
• Goals Against Average: Clarke (3.44), Woods (3.45), Billequey (5.24)

Alvernia

• Points: Vande Meerakker (30), Chapman (26), Alden (20)
• Goals: Vande Meerakker and Chapman (13), Alden and Gagnon (7)
• Assists: Vande Meerakker (17), Chapman and Alden (13), Deschenes (11)
• Goals Against Average: Fellner (2.77), Graiff (2.91), Stern (3.50)

History

• All-Time Record vs Alvernia: 3-1
• Streak: Manhattanville W2
• Series Record at Alvernia: 2-0
• Last Four Meetings:
  • 12/2/23: Alvernia 3, Manhattanville 4
  • 12/1/23: Alvernia 1, Manhattanville 2
  • 12/3/22: Manhattanville 4, Alvernia 8
  • 12/2/22: Manhattanville 5, Alvernia 3

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