RYE, N.Y. – The late-game dramatics continued to unfold at Playland Ice Casino on Friday night, as sophomore Stephen Gaul (Downers Grove, Ill./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) scored on a penalty shot with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Manhattanville College men’s hockey team to a thrilling 5-4 (OT) victory over ECAC West Conference rival Elmira College.
The win, which is amazingly the team’s fourth 5-4 (OT) victory at Playland Ice Casino this season, keeps Manhattanville (9-7-1, 5-2-0 ECAC West) in second place in the conference standings and snaps a season-high three-game losing streak.
The penalty shot came about thanks to one last offensive burst by the Valiants. Sophomore Kevin Loppatto (Atlanta, Ga./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) nearly put the puck in with about four seconds left, and in the scramble for the rebound Elmira defenseman Rob Simpson pushed the net off its moorings to prevent a Valiant goal. But that just delayed the goal, as Gaul slid the puck under the pads of Sal Magliocco on the subsequent penalty shot to send the home team to a victory.
Gaul and junior co-captain Nolan Marshall (Drumheller, Alta./Camrose Kodiaks (AJHL)) led the Valiants with a goal and an assist each, while junior Phil Dinner (Dallas, Texas/Connecticut Oilers (EJHL)) also had two points with a pair of assists. Junior co-captain Teagan Waugh (Nanaimo, B.C./Powell River Kings (BCHL)), sophomore Anthony Ragone (Babylon, N.Y./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) and freshman Nigel Slade (St. Catherine’s, Ont./Niagara Falls Canucks (GOJHL)) also scored for Manhattanville as well in the win.
The contest was a back-and-forth struggle for nearly the full 65 minutes, with both teams losing two leads before the end of the night. After Elmira (9-7-1, 2-5-0 ECAC West) opened the scoring on a Alexander Taulien goal 2:11 into the game, Ragone got the Valiants back to even at 8:08 of the first period with his first of the year from Loppatto and sophomore Fabian Andark (Stockholm, Sweden/Vaxjo Lakers VHL (SWE)).
Manhattanville again responded well to an Elmira goal in the second period, with Waugh netting a power-play goal at 6:50 to knot the score at two midway through the frame. The Valiants then took their first lead with 4:30 left in the period, as Slade delivered the first goal of his collegiate career from the slot.
The Valiant power play struck again at the 9:11 mark of the third period, with Marshall firing a puck past Magliocco to again give Manhattanville a lead at 4-3. But Elmira used a two-man advantage to its advantage soon after, getting Carter Shinkaruk’s 17th goal of the year with 6:05 remaining to force extra time.
But that just played into Manhattanville’s hands, as the Valiants improved to 5-0-1 in overtime contests this season, including a 4-0-0 mark at Playland all by the same score.
Manhattanville posted a 35-34 edge in shots on the night, with sophomore Kyle Redmond (Toronto, Ont./Northfield Mount Hermon) turning aside 30 shots to earn his third victory of the season.
The Valiants and Soaring Eagles will return to Playland tomorrow to complete their two-game weekend series. Game time has been moved up to 4:40 p.m. due to the pending storm hitting hardest on Saturday night.
