Contact: Ben Badua

RYE, N.Y. - Junior Brandon Hew (Fresno, Calif.) netted the equalizer with just 3:35 remaining in the third period as the seventh-ranked Amherst men's hockey team rallied from a two-goal deficit to salvage a 3-3 (ot) tie with Manhattanville at the Playland Ice Casino in Rye, N.Y.

Having suffered a 5-0 loss to the Valiants last season, the Lord Jeffs improved to 8-1-1 overall while extending their unbeaten streak to six. Manhattanville moved to 4-4-2 on the year with the draw.

Wasting no time getting on the board, senior defenseman Dillon O'Hara found first-year Mark Rivera for the game's first score just 1:39 after the opening whistle. Drawing a penalty 22 seconds later, the Lord Jeffs went on the power play, quickly pulling even on junior Jamie Hawkrigg's (Waterdown, Ontario) third goal of the year at the 2:49 mark.

Still knotted at 1-1 early in the second period, Manhattanville sophomore Luc Van Natter took advantage of a man-up opportunity, burying a power play goal a little over three minutes into the frame. Just 6:50 later, Marcus von Sydow '12 set up Louie Balzano '14 for the Valiants' third score, giving the home team a two-goal edge.

With 4:36 remaining in the stanza, Amherst senior co-captain Eddie Effinger (Belleville, Ill.) put away his fifth goal of the year to pull the Jeffs back within one. Still trailing 3-2 with less that four minutes remaining in regulation, Hew knotted the game, tallying his second goal of 2011-12 on assists from Ryan Edwards '14 (Rochester, N.Y.) and Dylan Trumble '13 (Calgary, Alberta).

Applying much of the pressure to start the overtime session, Manhattanville put a pair of shots on net over the first couple minutes of action, but Jonathan La Rose '12 (Boyle, Alberta) made both saves during that span to keep the Jeffs level.

Amherst responded by outshooting the Valiants 3-0 down the stretch, but Manhattanville netminder Pierre-Oliver Lemieux '12 turned each try away to preserve the tie.

The Lord Jeffs finished with a 24-20 shot advantage, going 1-for-5 on the power play while Manhattanville finished 1-for-4 with the man-up advantage. 

La Rose collected 17 saves in the win, improving to 6-0-1 on the year while Lemieux made 21 stops to move to 4-3-2 on the season.

Amherst returns to action on Friday, Jan. 6 at Bowdoin.