PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Connecticut College men's ice hockey team's offense exploded for seven goals, as the Camels defeated host Manhattanville College 7-2 on Tuesday night from Playland Ice Casino. With the win, Conn improves to 2-4 on the year, while Manhattanville falls to 4-8.
Conn (2-4) continued their stretch of fast starts, jumping out to a 1-0 lead 8:36 into the contest. Kei Yasuda (Nagoya, Japan) found the back of the net, as Jack Luca (Milton, Mass.) picked up the assist on the Camels opening goal. Manhattanville (4-8) responded with a couple of shots, but Kellen Beauton (Colchester, Conn.) was strong in goal. Six minutes after Yasuda's opener, Rocco Testa-Basi (Holland Patent, N.Y.) doubled the advantage with assists from John Russo (South Windsor, Conn.) and Jon Barker (North Kingstown, R.I). The Camels added to their lead late in the period, as Reid Shafer (Coppell, Texas) took a shot from the point that found its way in, as Russo and Quinn Kennedy (Silver Spring, Md.) picked up the assists, to give Conn a 3-0 lead after one.
The scoring slowed down in the second period, as the teams traded chances. Conn, however, pushed the lead to 4-0 at 13:06 on a goal from Michael DiMascolo (Cranston, R.I.), with Kennedy and Yasuda earning the assists. The Camels took that 4-0 lead into the third period.
The Valiants started the final frame looking to get back into the game, and cut into the deficit just 2:01 into the period on a goal from Ryan McKenna. Manhattanville continued to push and got a second goal at 7:34 on a tally from Corey Popowcer. Conn answered right back. Just 36 seconds later, Yasuda and DiMascolo connected to find Cole Eichler (King, Ontario), who hit the back of the net, extending the lead to 5-2.
With seven and a half minutes to play, Yasuda earned another assist, along with Luca, when Will Winship (Andover, Mass.) pushed the Camel advantage to 6-2. Conn added one more goal, as DiMascolo collected his second goal of the game, with Eichler and Yasuda earning the helpers. The Camels held off the Valiants the rest of the way, as Conn came away with the 7-2 win.
Conn outshot Manhattanville 44-29, while the Valiants won 34 of 64 draws.
Beauton made his first start of the year, earning the win and stopping 27 of 29 shots. Yasuda led the Camels with five points on one goal and four assists, while DiMascolo added three points on two goals and one assist. Russo, Luca, Eichler, and Kennedy added two points, with Shafer, Barker, and Testa-Basi chipping in one point each. Russo was strong in the circle, winning 16 of 23 draws, while Conn went 4-4 on the penalty kill and 0-5 on the man advantage.
William Billequey got the start in goal, stopping 37 of 44 shots. McKenna and Tristan D'Elia led the Valiants with two points, on one goal and one assist and two assists, respectively. Manhattanville finished 0-4 on the power play and 5-5 on the penalty kill.
Conn wraps up the 2023 portion of the schedule with two games this weekend. The Camels open the weekend on Friday night against Colby at 7:00 p.m. in Dayton Arena.
