ASTON, Pa. - The Neumann University men's ice hockey team clinched a berth in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) playoffs on Saturday afternoon, taking down visiting King's College by a score of 6-1.
 
Tommy Dougherty was the game's first star with a hat trick, while Thomas Mansbridge (1 g, 1 a), Barry Kneedler (2 a) and Mario Tropea (2 a) all had two-point days. Tyler Roy mace the start in goal, stopping 20 shots in the victory.
 
Knowing that a win plus a Manhattanville loss on the day would seal up a playoff spot, the Knights came out ready to play. The opening ten minutes of play would be fairly uneventful, but the action would pick up in the second half of the first frame as four goals found the back of the net. Neumann would strike first as Mansbridge grabbed his own rebound and potted his third goal of the season to put the Knights up 1-0 at the 11:52 mark. King's evened the game up at 1-1 two minutes later, but the remainder of the period would belong to Dougherty and the scorching hot Neumann power-play. The junior forward scored at 14:03 on the man-advantage, then tipped home a point shot for his second goal of the period again with an extra man to give the Knights a 3-1 lead heading to the second.
 
Dougherty wasn't through scoring just yet, though, as the captain opened the second stanza by firing home a third goal to complete his natural hat trick at the 9:59 mark of the period to put Neumann up 4-1. The game looked to be heading to the second intermission at the same scoreline, but a late King's penalty for too many men on the ice gave the Knights one last opportunity in the frame. With time winding down in the period, Glenn Florczak gained control of the puck and ripped a shot past the Monarch goaltender right as the buzzer sounded to put the hosts up 5-1 moving to the third.
 
Neumann added to its lead further in the final frame. An excellent individual effort from Eric Madison led to a sixth goal, as the senior picked up his own rebound and deked the King's net-minder before depositing the puck into the net to make it 6-1 with 7:12 left to play. By this point in the contest, the Neumann bench had also learned that Manhattanville had lost in overtime versus Wilkes and that holding on for a win would push them into the postseason. As the time ticked down on the clock, the Knights knew that they would be returning to the UCHC playoffs after missing out last season. The team locked things down the remaining few minutes and skated away with the 6-1 win.
 
Neumann (9-15-0, 8-9 UCHC) closes out its regular season schedule with a matchup versus Manhattanville next Friday, February 22nd at 7:00 PM. The Knights will be either the fifth or sixth seed in the UCHC playoffs depending on how games go next weekend. The team currently sits in fifth place, one point ahead of sixth place Nazareth.