ASTON, Pa. – The Neumann University Men's Hockey opened the Middle Atlantic Conference schedule(MAC) with a high-scoring win over Lebanon Valley College on Friday night by a final score of 7-5.
 
Zack Smith led the Knights with a hat-trick and an assist for a four point night. Lucas Culhane, Matt Dimaline, and Jake Barkley each put up a goal and two assists.
 
Before the fans could get settled in their seats, the Knights got a scoring started. Judd Katz took a puck at the left point and wristed the puck towards goal. Jake Barkley deflected past the goaltender for the 1-0 lead, just 33 seconds in. 17 seconds later, Lebanon Valley responded with a goal of their own. With 16:01 left in the first, Shawn Eliav passed into the offensive zone to Dimaline who broke in on a 2-on-1. He slipped a pass across to Smith for the 2-1 lead. Again, the Flying Dutchmen had a response as they tied the game up at thr 5:15 mark. 31 seconds later, on the power play, Smith against struck on a quick passing play from Culhane and Barkley. 32 seconds after that, Culhane passed to Jared Coccimiglo who fired on goal. The save was made but Niko Tishkevich put in the rebound for the 4-2 lead. Unfortunately for the Knights, they couldn't hold that edge as Lebanon Valley scored 1:31 later, and again with 8:48 left in the first on a shorthanded goal, tying the game at four.
 
Things would settle down from there but, for the Knights, they would fall behind. The Flying Dutchmen, with the power play, popped in a goal with 5:36 left in the second to grab their for lead on the only goal of the middle period.
 
Just over five minutes into the third period, there was a scramble for the puck behind the Lebanon Valley goal. After it was tapped by Tyler Kennedy and Smith, Dimaline, from a sharp angle, banked it off of the goalie and it snuck in, tying the game at five. With 10:07 left in regulation, Smith found a rebound in front of the crease and deposited the hat-trick goal. Barkley and Dimaline got the assists and the Knights took the lead for good. Culhane put in an empty net goal with 1.2 seconds left on the clock to seal the game.
 
Neumann (1-2, 1-0 MAC) will be back on action on Saturday afternoon as again they'll host Lebanon Valley College for a 4:00 PM start.