RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University men's hockey team dropped its season opener on Friday night, falling 5-2 to visiting Wilkes at the Playland Ice Casino.
The Colonels took control of the game with three goals in the opening ten minutes to begin the 2026-27 campaign. Wilkes opened the scoring with a Daniel Nau goal 1:42 into the tilt before Easton Stafford scored the first two goals of his opening-night hat trick with tallies at 7:26 at 10:09. Manhattanville was held to just four shots in the period, all coming on a pair of power plays that Wilkes successfully killed off.
Manhattanville played a much stronger second period, firing 14 pucks on net in the frame. The Valiants broke through halfway through the period as Caden Easton recorded Manhattanville's first goal of the new season from
Jake Wilkerson (Raleigh, N.C./Norwich Sea Captains (NA3HL)) and
Tristan D'Elia (West Chester, Pa./Philadelphia Little Flyers (EHL)). The Valiants also shored up defensively, killing off four Wilkes power plays to hold the Colonels scoreless in the second. Freshman goaltender
Nicholas Mele (Mohegan Lake, N.Y./New Jersey Bears (EHL)) shined, stopping all 25 shots he faced in the period to keep the Valiants within striking distance.
Stafford completed his hat trick 1:28 into the third before
Ryan McKenna (Spokane, Wash./Sheridan Hawks (NA3HL)) responded three minutes later, scoring off a feed from
Emil Grinsvall (Gothenburg, Sweden/Maja Beskow). After being held in check on their first four power plays, Wilkes struck on their first shot of their fifth attempt with the man advantage, getting an insurance tally from Nau 12:28 into the period to pull away.
Mele finished with 46 saves in his collegiate debut, making 12 more stops in the third.
McKenna also led the Valiants on the draw along with his goal, winning nine faceoffs. Eaton and
Trey Dionne (Long Lake, Minn./New Jersey Rockets (NCDC)) both won six as Wilkes held a narrow 34-30 advantage on the dot.
Manhattanville blocked 13 shots, led by three from Eaton. Wilkerson,
Zach Turner (Eagle, Colo./Powassan Voodoos (NOJHL)) and
Frederic D'Amours (Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Canada/Odyssé) each turned away a pair of shots. Eaton's five total shots also paced the Valiants offensively.
Up Next
The Valiants return to the ice next Friday, hosting the University of Saint Joseph at 7 p.m.
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