RYE, NY - Firing home their season-high in goals, the Manhattanville College men's hockey team used an offensive explosion to trounce visiting King's (Pa.), 6-0, on Friday night at Playland Ice Casino. Sebastian Woods tallied his second shutout in a Valiant uniform, saving all 34 shots fired his way. Manhattanville now resides at 9-15-0, returning to the win column following a three-game skid.
With the win, the Valiants bring their point total to 28, one point ahead of the fifth seed. One final game remains in UCHC play, and with the Valiants holding fourth place, they are in position to host a first-round playoff matchup.
Manhattanville scored in each of the three periods, with a three-goal third period putting the contest out of reach. All told, the Valiants shared the love in the offensive zone, with six different Valiants lighting the lamp.
Lane Paddison kicked off the scoring in the game, sounding the horn during a 4-on-4, 07:56 into the opening twenty minutes. Mitchell Watson found Dan Barry on the blue line, who then maneuvered the Monarch's Defense, passing it off to Paddison to put the Valiants up 1-0. Zach Choueiri minutes later would find his first career goal, as the freshman fired home a pass across the ice from Elijah Devereaux and Tyler Rolston, giving Manhattanville the 2-0 lead in the first period.
Ryan McKenna lit the lamp fourteen seconds after the puck dropped in the second period, as his linemates Nicholas Rogers and Artem Mateichenko set McKenna up to beat the opposing netminder, for the 3-0 lead.
The Valiants put the game out of reach in the final period, as AJ Bella fired home his team-leading fourteenth goal of the season 02:35 into the period, finishing off a play from Noah Bradley and Devereaux. Justin Fernet would continue the scoring frenzy, as Johno Hoins and Mitchell Watson set up Fernet to find the back netting with ten minutes remaining in regulation. The Valiants would net their sixth and final goal of the night off the stick of Nicholas Rogers, who beat the goaltender blocker-side to pin the contest at 6-0 for a Valiant victory.
Woods commanded the crease for Manhattanville, saving all 34 shots he faced in tonight's contest. The sophomore has now amassed 505 saves this season in the 18 games played between the pipes.
The Valiants dominated the circle, winning 49 faceoffs to the Monarchs' 33. McKenna paced the field with 17 wins in the circle, followed by Caden Eaton with ten wins and Paddison rounding out the bunch with six wins.
Manhattanville went 0-2 on power play opportunities, but their penalty kill unit went a perfect 4-for-4 with the man disadvantage, turning away all ten shots faced in the eight minutes down a man.
Up Next
The Valiants return to Playland Ice Casino tomorrow at 3 p.m. for the regular-season finale and their Senior Day.