Utica, N.Y (1/10/2011) – Freshman forward Jon Gaffney (Dover, NJ / Springfield Blues (NAHL)) of the nationally-ranked No. 13 Utica College men’s hockey team was named the College’s Male Athlete of the Week for the week ending Jan. 10, 2011.
Gaffney netted four goals and added two assists as the Pioneers’ went 2-0 in non conference play this past weekend.
Gaffney registered an insurance goal, shorthanded, to close out the scoring in the Pioneers’ 5-2 win over Curry College Friday night. He went on to score a career-high five points on three goals (first career hat trick) and two assists as UC defeated visiting Cortland State 10-1 in front of 3,054 fans at the Aud on Saturday night.
He currently leads the team with nine goals and ranks second on the team with 18 total points. He ranks fifth nationally in rookie scoring averaging 1.29 points per contest over the course of 14 games played.
The Pioneers have now won six of their last seven games and improved to 11-4 overall for the first time since 2004-05 when they won the ECAC Men's West Regular season championship and hosted the conference tournament.
The Pioneers will now hit the road for two non conference contests in Massachusetts against Suffolk Saturday and Wentworth on Sunday. After the weekend trip to New England the Pioneers will open up a set of eight straight conference games to close out their regular season schedule, beginning with host Elmira on Jan. 21st at 7 p.m.
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