RYE, N.Y. – Sophomore Cory Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif./Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL)) scored the game-winning goal on the power play 2:35 into the final period as the Manhattanville College men’s hockey team knocked off the top-ranked team in the country for the first time in program history with a 3-2 victory over consensus #1 Saint Norbert College on Saturday afternoon at Playland Ice Casino.
Manhattanville (6-4-0) beat the nation’s top team for the first time in four all-time tries, including last night’s 3-1 loss to USCHO.com and D3hockey.com #1 Saint Norbert (8-2-0). The Valiants improve to 2-1-0 this season against top-five teams, having already defeated #4/5 Hobart College by a 5-3 margin at Playland on November 11.
The win, Manhattanville’s fifth in the last six games, also is the team’s first victory when scoring fewer than four goals since a 3-1 win over Elmira College on January 23, 2015. The team had previously been 0-25-1 in its last 26 games when not reaching the four-goal plateau.
After squandering multiple opportunities on the power play over the first two periods of play, Manhattanville finally converted on the man advantage early in the final frame to account for the go-ahead score. Less than a minute into the sixth man-up chance of the afternoon, Anderson took a pass from junior Kevin Loppatto (Plano, Texas/Springfield Pics (USPHL)) and beat netminder Tony Kujava for his second goal of the year at 2:35 of the period.
The Valiants killed off two Green Knight power plays over the final 17 minutes and then held on over the final 2:43 with an extra attacker on the ice for the visitors. Saint Norbert managed only two shots on goal with the six-on-five advantage, and both attempts were denied by sophomore Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)) to seal the victory.
Saint Norbert scored the only goal of the first period on the power play, with Sean Campbell finding the net at the 7:57 mark on the power play. Manhattanville had seven straight minutes of power play time later in the period thanks to two SNC minors and a major, but the opportunity was wasted and the Valiants went into the first intermission down a goal despite a 12-3 edge in shots.
The Valiants struck for two goals in 2:30 midway through the second period to take its first lead of the day. Loppatto redirected a shot from the point by freshman Ryan Jackson (Montreal, Que./Hawkesbury Hawks (CCHL)) at 11:49 to tie the score, and Anderson forced a turnover in the offensive zone before feeding classmate Matt Lippa (Richmond Hill, Ont./Oakville Blades (OJHL)) for his team-best seventh goal of the year at 14:19. Norbert’s Jeremy Olinyk tied the score with 3:02 left in the middle period, which only set the stage for some third-period dramatics.
Feaver was not called upon often on the day, as Manhattanville boasted a 35-21 edge in shots against the nation’s top team, but the sophomore still came up big with 19 saves to earn the win.
Manhattanville will take next week off before returning to the ice on December 10, when the Valiants host Curry College beginning at 7 p.m.
