HERSHEY, Pa. – Senior co-captain Stephen Gaul (Downers Grove, Ill./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) recorded his first career hat trick to provide all the offense Manhattanville College needed as the Valiants outlasted Lebanon Valley College by a 3-1 score in a key United Collegiate Hockey Conference and Middle Atlantic Conference men’s hockey matchup on Saturday at Hersheypark Arena.
Gaul came up huge to deliver Manhattanville (5-4-2, 5-3-0 UCHC/2-1-0 MAC) to a key conference victory, scoring once in the first period and twice in the final minute of the third period. Junior assistant captain Bryan Platt (Trumbull, Conn./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) also had a multi-point game with a pair of assists on Gaul’s first two tallies.
Going up against a potent LVC power play, it instead was the Valiant man advantage that came up with two key goals to pick up the win. The penalty kill also limited the Dutchmen to one goal on six chances as well.
Gaul opened the scoring at 11:16 of the first period on Manhattanville’s first power-play chance of the night, taking feeds from Platt and senior assistant captain Thimmy Garbenius (Nykvarn, Sweden/Sodertalje SK (SWE)) for his fourth of the year.
Lebanon Valley (4-5-1, 4-2-1 UCHC/1-2-0 MAC) tied the game with the only goal of the second period, as the game remained knotted up until the final minute of the third, when the Valiants earned their sixth power-play opportunity of the evening. Again it was Gaul who answered the call, skating the puck in from the point and wristing a shot past Joel Eisenhower with 42 seconds remaining to put the visitors ahead for good.
Gaul then put the icing on the game with his third of the night, scoring an empty-netter with three seconds left to seal the victory.
Manhattanville outshot Lebanon Valley by a decisive 46-24 margin, including a 27-13 edge over the final two periods. Junior Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)) made 23 saves at the other end of the ice to keep the Valiants in the game and allow for Gaul’s late heroics.
The Valiants will take the rest of 2017 off before beginning 2018 with the first of six straight non-conference games against Connecticut College on January 2 at 7 p.m.
