RYE, N.Y. – Connecticut College’s Sebastian Meltzer scored the game-winning goal on a penalty shot midway through the third period and Manhattanville College could not find any late-game magic this time around as the Valiants fell to the Camels by a 4-3 score in non-conference men’s hockey action on Saturday night at Playland Ice Casino.
Sophomore Kevin Loppatto (Atlanta, Ga./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) scored the first two goals of his career and Charlie Ryde (Stockholm, Sweden/Flemingsbergs IK J20 (SWE)) netted his sixth of the year for Manhattanville (8-5-1). Joe Birmingham led Connecticut College (3-6-2) with two goals and Matt Michaud also scored for the Camels in addition to Meltzer’s game-winner.
Connecticut College jumped on Manhattanville early, getting the third in two games from Michaud to take a 1-0 lead just 100 seconds into the contest. Birmingham added his first of the night at the 7:38 mark to give the Camels a two-goal lead and put the Valiants on their heels.
Loppatto settled things down somewhat less than two minutes later, scoring his first career goal unassisted at 9:11 to get the home team back within a goal. The score remained 2-1 after 20 minutes, despite the Valiants holding a slight 12-11 edge in shots.
Ryde evened the score on the power play with 6:00 remaining in the second period, scoring on the power play from freshman Matt Lippa (Richmond Hill, Ont./Oakville Blades (OJHL)) and sophomore Thimmy Garbenius (Nykvarn, Sweden/Sodertalje SK (SWE)). But the Camels came right back 2:18 later, with Birmingham scoring his second of the game from the side of the net at the 16:18 mark to regain the visitors’ one-goal lead after 40 minutes.
Loppatto struck again with the first goal of the third period, getting the Valiants back to even again with a score from the doorstep after corralling a shot from junior Phil Dinner (Dallas, Texas/Connecticut Oilers (EJHL)) with 14:18 remaining.
The Valiants had a chance to take the lead a few minutes later when the team went on its fourth power play of the game, but Meltzer was hooked by a breakaway attempt to earn a one-on-one chance against freshman Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)). On the penalty shot, Meltzer slipped the puck under the pads of Feaver for his second of the year to put the visitors up again, and Manhattanville managed only one shot the rest of the way.
Manhattanville held a 23-18 edge in shots, with the two teams combining for just seven shots on goal in the third period. The home team held Connecticut College scoreless in six man-up chances, but also missed out on four of its five man-up opportunities.
Manhattanville will be back on the ice on Wednesday, when the squad plays its final road non-conference game of the regular season at Nichols College beginning at 8:10 p.m. in Harrisville, R.I.
