MPLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men’s ice hockey faced Connecticut College Saturday afternoon, Jan. 5, in the consolation game of the W.B. Mason Winter Classic, hosted by Plattsburgh State University. The Valiants outshot the Camels 37-25, but were unable to get one past the Conn College goalie and fell by a score of 1-0.
Manhattanville (7-4-2) fell behind Conn College (4-7-1) early in the first period when the Camels’ Jacob Moreau put one past senior goalie Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)) just over five minutes into the game. That would be Feaver’s only blemish on the day, as he kept Conn College out of the net from the remainder of the contest and finished with 24 saves.
Things could have been much worse in the first for Manhattanville, though, as the Valiants took a pair of penalties within 32 seconds of each other – senior Cory Anderson(Bakersfield, Calif./Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL)) for delay of game at 17:45 and senior Nigel Slade (St. Catherines, Ont./Niagara Falls Canucks (GOJHL)) for slashing at 18:17 – and thus faced a 5-on-3 penalty kill. Feaver made a pair of saves in the waning seconds of the period to keep the score at 1-0 – the second penalty was killed off 12 seconds into the second.
The Valiants first power play opportunity of the day came at 8:11 in the second following a slashing call on the Camels – they were able to land two shots on net, but one was blocked and the other was stopped by Avery Gobbo for one of his 37 saves. A few minutes later, rookie Jarod Lavallee (Cumberland, Maine/Seacoast Spartans (ECEL)) was called for slashing to put the Valiants back on the kill, but only for 54 seconds as the Camels were called for tripping at 11:32 to create a 4-on-4. Manhattanville ended up with a brief power play opportunity when Lavallee returned from the box – the Valiants attempted three shots, one blocked and two saved on goal – but was unable to capitalize. Manhattanville had another power play at 16:42 following yet another slashing call and took three more shots, but again were stonewalled.
In the third, the Camels were called for too many men at 7:27 and the Valiants attempted another four shots, but to no avail once again. Feaver faced and stopped a tri of shots several minutes later as Manhattanville killed off a tripping penalty at 10:08. With 56 seconds remaining in regulation, the Valiants pulled Feaver for the 6-on-5 empty net advantage. They attempted five shots, but two were blocked and the other three were stopped to seal the 1-0 loss.
Overall, each team killed off four penalties. In addition to having a 12-shot advantage, Manhattanville also won 43 of 81 faceoffs (53.1 percent). Unfortunately, Gobbo stood on his head for the Camels and the Valiants were stuck with the loss.
Highlights:
– Anderson finished with six shots and was 17-of-26 in the faceoff circle.
– A night after his first-career hat trick, senior Matt Lippa(Richmond Hill, Ont./Oakville Blades (OJHL)) attempted five shots.
– Slade was 10-of-17 in the dot, while junior Kenny McLean (New Rochelle, N.Y./New York Bobcats (EHL)) won 11-of-20.
Next up for Manhattanville is a return to home ice at the Playland Ice Casino in Rye, N.Y., for the first time in over a month. The Valiants host Williams College next Friday, Jan. 11, for a 3:30 p.m. puck drop.
