RYE, N.Y. – Six different Valiants found the back of the net and 13 different players recorded at least one point as the Manhattanville College men’s hockey team picked up a second straight ECAC West Conference victory with a 6-2 win over Elmira College on Saturday night at Playland Ice Casino.
Junior Kevin Loppatto (Plano, Texas/Springfield Pics (USPHL)) was not one of the six Valiant scorers and yet still picked up a game-high three points on a trio of assists. Sophomore Matt Lippa (Richmond Hill, Ont./Oakville Blades (OJHL)) was the only other Valiant with more than one point, scoring once and adding an assist for Manhattanville (3-3-0, 2-2-0 ECAC West).
Senior co-captains Nolan Marshall (Drumheller, Alta./Camrose Kodiaks (AJHL)) and Teagan Waugh (Nanaimo, B.C./Powell River Kings (BCHL)), junior Thimmy Garbenius (Nykvarn, Sweden/Sodertalje SK (SWE)), and sophomores Eric Berglund (Sollentuna, Sweden/Islanders Hockey Club (USPHL)) and Bryan Platt (Trumbull, Conn./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) also scored for the Valiants in the victory.
The game did not start auspiciously for Manhattanville, as the Valiants were whistled for a penalty in the opening minute and Nick Ford converted only nine seconds into the man advantage to put Elmira up 1-0 just 1:08 into the contest.
But the home team responded swiftly, scoring three times to take back the lead before the end of the opening frame. Marshall evened the score at the 4:32 mark, collecting the rebound of a shot from junior Fabian Andark (Stockholm, Sweden/Vaxjo Lakers VHL (SWE)) and stuffing it home. Lippa continued his hot weekend with the go-ahead goal at 6:08 of the period on the power play, beating Elmira netminder Sal Magliocco from the slot for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Waugh added a power-play goal of his own at the 12:45 mark, working the tic-tac-toe with Lippa and Loppatto on a five-on-three advantage to put the Valiants up by a pair.
After a scoreless second period, Manhattanville erupted for three more goals in the final frame to secure the victory. Platt gave the Valiants a 4-1 lead at the 5:40 mark of the period, putting home the rebound of his brother, senior assistant captain Adam Platt (Trumbull, Conn./Springfield Pics (USPHL)), on a two-on-one rush.
Elmira got one goal back less than a minute later on the power play, and then continued to pressure the Valiant defense on a pair of power-play chances. But the penalty-kill unit held up and Manhattanville got some insurance on its next power-play chance, when Garbenius picked a corner from the left point with 5:29 left. Two more penalties were killed off after that before Berglund finished the scoring with an empty-net tally with 1:09 on the clock.
Both penalty-kill units were very active on the night, as the teams combined for 22 penalties and 20 power-play opportunities. Manhattanville scored three times on its 10 power-play chances, while Elmira scored twice on its 10 man-up chances.
Sophomore Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)) earned his second straight win between the pipes, making 23 saves for the second night in a row.
Manhattanville will complete the first round of ECAC West play next weekend, beginning with a Friday night meeting with Lebanon Valley College at 7 p.m. in Hershey, Pa.
