Box Score UTICA, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's hockey team earned its second victory of the year over a ranked opponent and as a result will begin the quest for an ECAC West Conference Tournament championship at home thanks to a 3-1 win over #13/13 Utica in the teams' regular-season finale on Saturday night at a sold-out Utica Memorial Auditorium.
 
The win moved Manhattanville (12-11-2, 5-8-2 ECAC West) one point ahead of Neumann in the conference standings at the end of the regular season, meaning that the fourth-seeded Valiants will host the fifth-seeded Knights on Wednesday in the first round of the ECAC West Tournament. Utica (15-6-4, 10-4-1 ECAC West), which had already locked up the top seed with last night's win, will await the winner of Manhattanville and Neumann in the semifinal round on March 1.
 
Three Valiants found the net in the victory, as six Manhattanville skaters finished the night with a point. Freshman Phil Dinner (Simsbury, Conn./Connecticut Oilers (EJHL)) and senior Mark Rivera (Belmar, N.J./Springfield Pics (EJHL)) scored in the second period to put the visitors ahead, and senior co-captain Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont./Aurora Tigers (OPJHL)) continued his recent hot streak with an empty-netter to seal the win.
 
The first period featured plenty of action but no scoring, as the two teams combined for 27 shots without a goal. Senior Alex Scola (Exeter, N.H./Woodstock Slammers (MJHL)) stopped all 14 shots that came his way over the opening 20 minutes, while Nick Therrien made 13 stops for the Pioneers.
 
But in a sharp reversal from last night, Manhattanville took the action to Utica in the middle frame, scoring twice to earn a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Dinner got the scoring started at the 8:39 mark, finishing off feeds from juniors Anton Racklin (Gothenburg, Sweden/Fairbanks Ice Dogs (NAHL)) and Jake Mooney (Toronto, Ont./North York Rangers (OPJHL)) for his second goal of the year. Rivera followed with the eventual game-winning tally with 1:50 remaining in the period, with the assist on the goal credited to sophomore Matt Coleman (Brentwood, N.Y./Springfield Pics (EJHL)).
 
The Valiants kept Utica off the scoreboard until a Jon Gaffney tally with 4:50 left got the Pioneers back within one, but the home team could get no closer. Van Natter iced the contest with an unassisted tally with 35 ticks left on the clock, moving him into a tie for first place in the ECAC West with a career-high 15 goals this season.
 
Utica finished the night with a slight 29-26 edge in shots, posting one more than Manhattanville in all three periods. But Scola was up to the task, turning aside 28 shots to earn his ninth win of the season. Therrien allowed two goals on 25 shots to suffer the loss.
 
Check GoValiants.com this week for the announcement of an official game time for Wednesday's ECAC West First Round matchup between Manhattanville and Neumann. Whenever the game is played, the live GoValiants.TV broadcast will begin approximately 15 minutes prior to faceoff.