It was a busy week in the ECAC West, as teams played in 12 games total. Neumann, Elmira, and Manhattanville each played three games.
Elmira is the only team that swept its trio of games. The Soaring Eagles started the winning week with a barnburner 2-1 win at Fredonia on Tuesday. Brendan Sanders scored a short-handed goal and Kevin Willer notched a power-play tally for the win.
The Soaring Eagles then finished off the week by sweeping a pair of games from Morrisville 5-1 and 5-2. Sanders contributed three more goals during the weekend for a four-goal sweep.
Manhattanville’s record for the week was almost as good as Elmira’s. The Valiants started out tying Curry 2-2 on Tuesday before routing Potsdam 7-1 and 8-0 during the weekend. Manhattanville outshot the Bears, 97-52, during the games, and scored six goals in the first period of Friday’s game to set the tone for the weekend.
Neumann beat Brockport, 7-5, at home early last week and then hit the road to take on Fredonia. The Knights scored two power-play goals in the third period to squish a Fredonia comeback attempt Friday and won 5-2. Saturday’s game saw Neumann respond twice to one-goal Fredonia leads, but the Devils scored 3:07 into overtime to earn the split.
The loss snapped Neumann’s eight-game winning streak.
Hobart rebounded from a bad loss at Geneseo midweek to beat Nichols 5-1 on Saturday. Five different freshmen came through for the Statesmen, and goaltender Marty Ausserhofer stopped a career high 33 shots on goal.
Utica had the lightest schedule of the week, with only a single game, but it was on the road against a very tough Oswego team. The Pioneers had plenty of opportunities in the game, including 12 power plays in the penalty-filled affair, but Oswego scored two power-play goals and two short-handed goals to win, 5-2.
As the nonconference schedule winds down, the ECAC West holds a convincing 23-10 advantage over the archrival SUNYAC. There are still a few more games to go before the final tally is complete, but it is a definite that the ECAC West will hold an overall winning record AGAIN.
