RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University men's hockey team returned to the ice on Saturday, closing out their home opening weekend with a 6-2 setback against Salve Regina. The loss drops the Valiants to 0-3-0 to start the 2025-26 season, while the Seahawks improve to 3-0-0.
Salve Regina struck first midway through the opening period when Jonathan Hammel found the back of the net at 7:38, finishing off a passing sequence from Walter Baumann and Jacob Bramwell. Manhattanville responded quickly just two minutes later, as freshman Jack Roberts (Middlefield, CT/Lyman Hall) buried his second goal of the season off a feed from Tristan D'Elia (West Chester, Pa./Philadelphia Little Flyers (EHL)) and Johno Hoins (Telluride, Colo./The Frederick Gunn School / Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL)) to tie things up.
The Valiants capitalized on a power play moments later to take their first lead of the night. Brandon Paluszak (Powell, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) connected from the slot at 11:30, converting a setup from Roberts and Nicholas Rogers (Broad Channel, N.Y./Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (NA3HL)) to lead 2-1.
The Seahawks responded in the second, reclaiming momentum with back-to-back goals. An unassisted goal by Brendan Abban at 6:25 to even the score before Hammel struck again less than two minutes later, finishing another feed from Baumann to give Salve Regina a 3-2 advantage heading into the third.
Manhattanville looked to rally in the final period. Salve Regina's Parker Mabbett extended the lead with a shorthanded goal just 45 seconds into the period, followed by Matthew Brunton's shorthanded strike at 1:46 to make it 5-2. The Seahawks sealed the victory late as Logan Calder added an empty-net goal at 18:55 to round out the scoring.
Between the pipes, Tripp Clarke (Cazenovia, N.Y./Northern Cyclones (USPHL Premier)) made several key stops, finishing with 38 shots faced on the night despite the loss. The senior goaltender turned aside double-digit shots in each period to keep the Valiants within striking distance.
Offensively, Manhattanville put 31 shots on goal, led by six from Rogers and three from Paluszak, Hoins, Caden Eaton (Indian River, Mich./Cornwall Colts (CCHL)), and Corey Popowcer (Parkland, Fla./Vermont Lumberjacks (EHL)). The Valiants also held their own in the face off circle, going 34-37 overall, with Ryan McKenna (Spokane, Wash./Sheridan Hawks (NA3HL)) once again leading the team with a 4-for-7 effort.
Up Next:
The Valiants will look to rebound next weekend when they return to the Ice Casino to face Utica University on Friday, November 21, at 7 PM for their first conference match up of the season.
