WILKES-BARRE, PA (February 17, 2023) --- The King's College men's ice hockey team needed at least one point to keep their playoff hopes alive, but the Monarchs came up short, falling to visiting Manhattanville College 6-2 on Friday night from the Revolution Ice Centre. With the loss, King's falls to 6-16-2 overall and 5-13-1 in United Collegiate Hockey Conference play, while Manhattanville improves to 12-10-2 overall and 11-7-1 in UCHC play.
 
Manhattanville (12-10-2, 11-7-1) started quickly, firing off the first seven shots of the contest, but junior goaltender Ismael Ralsten was up to the task. King's (6-16-2, 5-13-1) responded with their first chance, as sophomore Tyler Blanchard's effort was blocked away. The teams settled in and traded chances, before the Valiants struck first on a late power play. At 19:53 Nick Prestia beat Ralsten off assists from James Gregory and Mitchell Watson to give Manhattanville a 1-0 lead after the first period.
 
The Valiants came out quickly in the second period, scoring three times in a span of one minute and 43 seconds to extend the lead to 4-0. Glynn Robitaille started the run at 2:00, before Elijah Devereaux scored at 2:41, and Hayden Taylor followed suit at 3:43 to put Manhattanville up 4-0 in the blink of an eye. Manhattanville added to their lead at 14:19 on a goal from Troy Crosson. Late in the period, the Monarchs got some momentum as first-year Matthew Metsa picked up his first collegiate goal at 19:58, as first-year Samuel Libetti and senior Rob Sheehan picked up the assists, as King's trailed 5-1 heading into the third period. In the third period, the Monarchs came out with new life looking to cut into the deficit. Sophomore Erik Borschevsky did just that, firing home a shot from the point at 8:43 to make it a 5-2 game. King's continued to push and pulled Ralsten with just under three minutes to play, before AJ Bella found the empty-net to give the Valiants the 6-2 victory.
 
Ralsten finished the game by stopping 40 of 45 shots in the contest. Offensively, the Monarchs had six players tally one point, led by Metsa and Borschevsky who both registered a goal. King's lead the face-off battle, winning 36 of 69 draws, led by sophomore Brendan Krawczyk who won 11 of 17. King's went 1-3 on the penalty kill and 0-2 on the power play.
 
Sebastian Woods got the start in goal, stopping 31 of 33 shots. The Valaints had four players tally two points, as Bella, Taylor, and Prestia all recorded a goal and an assist, while Josh Fletcher added two assists. Manhattanville went 2-3 on the power play and 2-2 on the penalty kill, while winning 33 of 69 face-offs.
 
King's closes out the season, finishing the weekend series with Manhattanville, as the Monarchs will celebrate senior day at 2 p.m. at the Revolution Ice Centre.