Neumann University 6, Lebanon Valley 5

LVC Starters
Reno, Hovanec, Hepler, Higgins, Straub, Eisenhower (G)

NU Starters
Pino, Kennedy, Lazzaro, Viitanen, House, Lefebvre (G)

How It Happened
Lebanon Valley was barely edged out by Neumann University 6-5 on Saturday night in men's ice hockey ECAC West action. The Dutchmen fell to 0-7-1, 0-6-0 ECACW, while the Knights improved to 5-3-0, 3-3-0 ECACW.

A very back-and-forth contest began with two consecutive LVC goals in the first period, beginning with an unassisted goal from Brett Johnson 7:37 into the opening frame. Next, Bryan Hovanec got in on the action at 12:02 after he found the back of the net off an assist from Jared Karas to put the Dutchmen ahead 2-0. Neumann got one back just over two minutes later when Lauri Viitanen scored an unassisted tally, but it was LVC who led 2-1 after one period of action.

42 seconds into the middle period, Shayne Morrissey netted a goal for the Knights on the power play to even the game up at 2-2. Later in the second, Johnson scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season from Travis Acker and Brad Nolan to put the Dutchmen back up by a goal at 3-2. 12:08 into the second, Neumann tied it up yet again with a power play goal and the Knights followed with another goal at 15:41 to take their first lead of the game at 4-3, a score that stuck heading into the final period.

In the third, Morrissey scored again at 4:25 to put Neumann up 5-3, however three minutes later, Hovanec scored his second of the game from Acker and Jake Thomas to bring LVC to within a goal at 5-4. In the final minute of action with the Dutchmen's net empty, Anthony Pino scored on the empty net to make it 6-4, but LVC never quit it definitely showed that it could play all 60 minutes, as Karas scored with 15 seconds left to bring the score to 6-5, but the Dutchmen were unable to push one past Neumann again, resulting in the 6-5 defeat.

Inside the Numbers
 - Johnson and Hovanec ended with two goals apiece and Hovanec led the Dutchmen with six shots on goal.
 - Joel Eisenhower made 26 saves tonight, while LVC knocked out Neumann's starting goalie Tyler Lefebvre after just 27 minutes of action. Athony Puppio stepped in for Lefebvre and made 12 saves for the Knights.
 - As a team, LVC led in faceoffs at 41-37. Cole Hepler led the way with a 12-for-18 mark from inside the red circle, while Thomas was 7-for-9.

Who's Next?
The Dutchmen are off until the annual Military Appreciation night on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. against Stevenson University.