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Utica, N.Y. (2/9/2011) – The nationally-ranked No. 7 Utica College men's hockey team will continue conference play on Friday night when they travel to Neumann University to take on the Knights in game one of a two-game weekend set. UC will square off against Neumann on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Neumann, which beat Utica 5-4 at the Aud on Nov. 19, tied and lost to No. 14 Hobart last weekend and saw its record diminish to 10-7-5 overall and 4-4-1 in conference play (third place).

The Pioneers have now won four straight games over nationally-ranked opponents and improved to 17-5 overall on the year. 17 wins in a single season is a new program-record and the Pioneers have won ten of their last 11 games played. This week's national ranking marks the highest ranking in the program's ten year history.

UC is now 6-3 in the ECAC Men's West Conference and the Pioneers moved into a first place tie with nationally-ranked No. 11 Elmira College.

The Pioneers are led by junior captain Tim Coffman (Elverson, PA/Laconia (AJHL))'s 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists). Coffman, who recently eclipsed the 100 point mark for his career, currently ranks 12th nationally with an average of 1.57 points per contest. He has scored at least one point in nine of the last ten games.

As a team Utica ranks fifth nationally in scoring defense with a goals against average of 1.95. The Pioneers' two goalie system has proved to be quite effective as of late and both Evan Smith (Penticton, British Columbia/Calgary Royals (AJHL)) and Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) are ranked in the top ten nationally in goals against average. Smith ranks sixth with a 1.90 gaa to go along with nine victories. Therrien ranks tenth with a 2.05 gaa and he has a team-high two shut outs. The Pioneers also rank fifth nationally in scoring margin as they are outscoring their opponents by 2.09 goals per contest.

They have relied heavily on their freshman class and six of their top eight scorers are first year players. Three of those freshman rank in the top 25 nationally in rookie scoring. Forwards Jon Gaffney (Dover, NJ/Springfield Blues (NAHL)) and Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) each have 20 points on ten goals and ten assists, while Chris Santiago (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles (BCHL)) has 19 points on six goals and 13 assists.

Sophomore forward Evan Chlanda (Islip, NY/Springfield (EJHL)) ranks second on the team with 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists).

Utica's six conference victories came by way of season series sweeps of Manhattanville and Hobart – an achievement that no other UC team has been able to accomplish. Four teams in the ECAC West are ranked in the top 14 in the national poll and Neumann is currently in the receiving votes category.

The Pioneers return home on Feb. 19th when they take on Elmira in what could prove to be a huge contest in terms of playoff seeding. UC is 12-2 at the friendly confines of the Aud this season and the Pioneers lead all of Division III with a home attendance average of 3,181.

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