RYE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men’s hockey team built up a 2-0 lead after two periods of play, but eight penalties called against the Valiants in the third period led to a pair of Morrisville State College power-play goals and an eventual 2-2 (OT) tie in the teams’ 2017-18 season opener on Friday night at Playland Ice Casino.
Manhattanville (0-0-1) dominated play through the first two periods, getting goals from seniors Kevin Loppatto (Plano, Texas/Springfield Pics (USPHL)) and Stephen Gaul (Downers Grove, Ill./Springfield Pics (USPHL)) and outshooting Morrisville State (0-0-1) by a decisive 33-14 margin. After a scoreless first 20 minutes, Loppatto scored the first goal of the new season at the 3:56 mark of the second stanza when he one-timed a feed from freshman Taylor Bommarito (Sterling Heights, Mich./Charlotte Rush (USPHL)) on a two-on-one past Mustang netminder Jared Young.
Gaul bookended the period with his first of the year, picking up a loose puck in front of the Morrisville net and picking the top corner with 1:26 remaining in the frame.
But things went sour for the Valiants in the final frame, as the home team was whistled for eight penalties that led to a pair of Morrisville power-play goals. John Lauer got the visitors back within one less than a minute into the third period, and CJ Stubbs tied the score just seconds after a five-on-three advantage expired with less than six minutes remaining in regulation.
In all, the Valiants spent over 11 minutes of the third period down at least one man, while Morrisville’s one penalty of the period was cancelled out by a Valiant infraction. As a result, the Mustangs outshot the Valiants by a 15-4 margin in the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Manhattanville came back to life in overtime, putting five shots on Young’s goal, but the squad could not find the elusive third goal and had to settle for the season-opening tie.
The Valiants finished the night with a 42-29 edge in shots. Junior Tyler Feaver (Whitby, Ont./Whitby Fury (OJHL)) played well in his first action of the season, turning aside 27 of the 29 shots he faced, while Young made 40 saves to keep Morrisville in the game.
Manhattanville will get back into action next Friday, when the Valiants play their first United Collegiate Hockey Conference game against old rival Elmira College in Pine Valley beginning at 7 p.m.
