The Utica College men's hockey team is set to travel to Neumann University for a play-in game of the ECAC Men's West Conference Tournament on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The Pioneers earned the No. 5 seed and will take on the No. 4 seeded Knights for a chance to move onto the semi-final round of the conference tournament.
The winner of Wednesday night's match up will take on regular season conference champion and top-seeded Elmira College Saturday at 7 p.m. at Elmira.
The Pioneers closed out the regular season with an 8-13-4 overall record including a 4-9-2 mark in conference play. In three games against the Knights this season the Pioneers went 1-1-1. UC tied Neumann 4-4 in the regular season opener at the Utica Memorial Auditorium on Oct. 30th. The following weekend the Pioneers defeated the Knights, who are the defending national champions, 7-3. Utica is now 10-10-3 in 23 meetings all-time against Neumann.
UC is guided into the conference tournament by sophomore standout
Tim Coffman (Elverson, PA/Laconia (AJHL)) (Elverson, Pa.) who ranks fourth in the conference with 33 points on 18 goals and 15 assists this season.
The Knights head into the conference tournament having won five of its last six games - including a sweep of top-seeded Elmira on Feb. 12th and 13th. Neumann finished the regular season with a 14-8-3 overall record, including a 7-5-3 conference ledger. The Knights have not lost a game since a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Hobart on Jan. 23rd. Their current hot streak has catapulted them into the receiving votes category of the USCHO.com National Poll.
Neumann is led by senior forward Matt Ward who has 27 points this season on 10 goals and 17 assists. Sophomore goalies Ross MacKinnon and Matt Tendler have allowed one goal or less in four of their last eight starts.
The Pioneers led the nation in home attendance for the fourth consecutive season after averaging 2,791 fans in 15 regular season home dates. The Pioneers home attendance figures were higher than 30 division I programs and they ranked 29th in the entire nation at any level of NCAA ice hockey (Div. I/II/III) in home attendance.
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