Elmira College (9-7-1, 2-5-0 ECAC West) at Neumann University (10-6-2, 2-5-1 ECAC West)
Friday, January 29, 2016 | 7:00 P.M. | IceWorks Skating Complex – Aston, PA
Saturday, January 30, 2016 | 4:00 P.M. | IceWorks Skating Complex – Aston, PA
Live Coverage | Game Notes

Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College men's ice hockey team heads to Aston, PA, to take on Neumann University this weekend, beginning with a 7:00 p.m. contest on Friday, January 29th. The Soaring Eagles will look gain ground in the ECAC West standings while avenging their season-opening overtime loss to the Knights.

Last Time Out
The Soaring Eagles dropped a 5-4 heartbreaker in the final seconds of overtime to Manhattanville College on January 22nd. After goals from Alexander Taulien '17 and Kenny Tencza '19 gave EC a 2-1 lead two minutes into the second period, the Valiants scored two straight to pull ahead by one.  The two teams traded power-play goals in the third period, the latter from Carter Shinkaruk '16 at the 13:55 mark with a 5-on-3 advantage to knot the game at 4-all. Elmira was then able to kill a Manhattanville 5-on-3 power play to force overtime. However, with the final seconds ticking off of the clock in the extra period, Valiant Matt Coleman rang a shot off of the left post, and EC's Rob Simpson '16 knocked the net off of its moorings, as he was unable to locate the puck in the chaos inside the crease. With 1.2 seconds on the clock, the Valiants were awarded a penalty shot, where Stephen Gaul scored the game-winner.

Manhattanville Series Finale Rescheduled
The series finale between Elmira and Manhattanville, originally scheduled for Saturday, January 23rd, was rescheduled due to the severe winter storm that hit the East Coast over the weekend. The game will now be played on Tuesday, February 16th, at 8:00 p.m. at the Playland Ice Casino.

No Slowing Shinkaruk
With another goal scored against the Valiants, Shinkaruk has now netted at least one goal in five of his last six games. He has scored eight goals over that span, including a season-high three in the victory over SUNY Geneseo on January 9th. The Langley, British Columbia, native has a tally in 12 of the 16 games he's skated in this year. He also holds a slim advantage over Neumann's Make Davis for the nation's lead in goals per game. Shinkaruk leads NCAA Division III with 1.06 goals per game, while Davis is second at 1.00. Davis does, however, lead the country in total goals with 18, one more than Shinkaruk.

Fourth Period Folly
Elmira has struggled to produce a win in four overtime games so far this season, going 0-3-1 in those contests. Overtime difficulties have haunted the Soaring Eagles over the last decade. Since the start of the 2006-07 campaign, Elmira has only seven victories in 45 overtime games. Overall, the Purple and Gold hold a mere 7-13-25 record in contests requiring extra time. Outside of a 1-0-0 mark in the 2012-13 season, the last time Elmira had a winning record in overtime was 2005-06, when EC finished 3-1-2, which included a double-overtime victory over Manhattanville in the NCAA Division III Quarterfinal round.

A Tale of Two Special Teams
The Soaring Eagles enter this weekend's matchup against Neumann ranked sixth in Division III in penalty minutes, as EC has been assessed an average of 16.1 penalty minutes per game. While Elmira has been crafty on the penalty kill, scoring four shorthanded goals this season, skating a man down against the Knights could cost the Purple and Gold dearly. Neumann is one of the most efficient teams in the nation with the man-advantage, scoring on 26.0 percent of its power plays, which ranks sixth in the country. The Knights lead the ECAC West with 19 power-play goals this season.

Last Matchup
It looked as if the Soaring Eagles would open the 2015-16 season at the Murray Athletic Center with a hard-fought win over the Knights. Taulien scored the game's first goal on the power play, and Jeremy Marginsky '18 scored twice to give EC leads of 4-3 and 5-4. Then Neumann's Davis took over late, tying the game at 4-, 5- and 6-all in the third period to keep the Knights alive. In overtime, Davis scored the game-winner in only 47 seconds. Sal Magliocco '17 registered a season-high 42 saves in the loss. As previously mentioned, Neumann did not waste its power-play opportunities, scoring twice with a man advantage.

Scouting Neumann
On the season, the Knights are 10-6-2 with a 2-5-1 ECAC West mark. After opening the New Year with four consecutive wins, including a sweep of the Middlebury Holiday Classic, the Knights find themselves on a season-high four-game winless streak (0-2-2), having lost and tied both SUNY Geneseo and Utica College in a pair of two-game sets. Last time out, the Knights skated to a 2-2 draw against the Pioneers, blowing leads of 1-0 and 2-1 by surrendering power-play goals to Utica. As a team, Neumann is tied for eighth in the nation in scoring with 4.00 goals per game. Davis, a sophomore, leads the country in goals (18) and is fifth with 1.67 points per game. In addition, Shayne Morrissey and Jory Mullin, both juniors, rank second and third in the ECAC West with 16 and 13 assists, respectively.

Up Next
The Elmira College men's ice hockey team returns to the Murray Athletic Center Ice Arena to open a four-game homestand with a pair of contests against Nazareth College on Friday, February 5th, and Saturday, February 6th. Puck drop for both games at 7:00 p.m.