RYE, N.Y. – Sophomore Stephen Gaul (Downers Grove, Ill./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) scored twice in 57 seconds to cap a three-goal second period as the Manhattanville College men’s hockey team locked up the second seed in the ECAC West Conference Tournament with a 5-2 victory over Elmira College on Tuesday night at Playland Ice Casino.
The win clinches second place in the ECAC West Conference for Manhattanville (12-11-1, 8-6-0 ECAC West), marking the Valiants’ 10th top-two conference finish in the last 14 years. As a result, Manhattanville will be home for the ECAC West Tournament semifinals on February 27 against the highest remaining seed from Wednesday’s first-round games.
Gaul had another big game for the Valiants, scoring twice to give him 14 goals on the season, the sixth-most goals scored by a Manhattanville underclassman in program history and the most since Jason Murfitt ’08 potted 16 as a sophomore in 2005-06. Junior Teagan Waugh (Nanaimo, B.C./Powell River Kings (BCHL)) added a career-high four points on a goal and three assists, while freshmen Matt Lippa (Richmond Hill, Ont./Oakville Blades (OJHL)) and Jared Martin (Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask./Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL)) chipped in a goal and an assist each.
Elmira’s Brian Depp scored the only goal of the first period at the 13:54 mark when he stuck home a shot from the left post to beat sophomore netminder Kyle Redmond (Toronto, Ont./Northfield Mount Hermon). Manhattanville went into the intermission with a 9-5 edge in shots, but nothing yet to show for it.
The game changed completely in a span of 2:41 midway through the middle stanza, however, with three Manhattanville goals suddenly putting the home team in control. Martin got the Valiants back to even at the 11:33 mark, taking a nice feed from Waugh in the low slot and one-timing the puck last Sandro Aeschlimann. Then Gaul took over, giving the home team a 2-1 lead at the 13:17 mark and then wristing a puck through Aeschlimann’s pads less than a minute later to put the Valiants up 3-1.
The Soaring Eagles got back within a goal early in the third period thanks to a Carter Shinkaruk tally, but the Elmira momentum halted after a five-minute major was assessed to the visitors soon after. Manhattanville then iced the game with two goals in 2:53 later in the period, with Waugh finally getting a goal of his own after helping on the first three tallies at 13:07 and then Lippa adding his eighth of the with 4:00 left.
Redmond made 15 saves to improve to 3-0-0 against Elmira this year and 4-2-0 overall, as Manhattanville boasted a 32-17 edge in shots. Aeschlimann made 27 saves in defeat for the Soaring Eagles.
The Valiants will close out the regular season on Friday night, when the team travels to Neumann University for a 7 p.m. faceoff with the Knights.
