Live Stats

Live Video

The nationally-ranked No. 8 Utica College men's hockey team prepares for a home and home weekend against No. 10 Manhattanville College. Friday's game will be held in Rye, NY at the Playland Ice Casino, while Saturday's game will be at The Utica Memorial Auditorium. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m. for both games.

The Pioneers are coming off a solid weekend sweep of No. 14 Hobart College. UC outscored the Statesmen 9-2 , including a convincing 5-0 shutout victory on Saturday night. With the two victories over Hobart, Utica earned four key points in the ECAC West standings and moved into a tie for second place with Neumann.

Utica is led by junior captain Tim Coffman (Elverson, PA/Laconia (AJHL)) who currently leads the team with 31 points this season on ten goals and 21 assists. He is currently tied for eighth in the nation with an average of 1.62 points per contest. He also ranks sixth in the country with an average of 1.11 assists per game. He has scored at least one point in seven of his last eight games (four multi-point games). Coffman also leads the conference in points and assists.

Sophomore Evan Chlanda (Islip, NY/Springfield (EJHL)) is coming off his first collegiate hat-trick in the Pioneers' 5-0 win over the Statesmen. Chlanda pushed his way up to second on the team and fourth in the conference in scoring, averaging 1.14 points per game.

In net for UC are freshmen Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) and Evan Smith (Penticton, British Columbia/Calgary Royals (AJHL)). Therrien, recently coming off his second shut-out of the season, now has a 7-3 record and 257 saves, good enough for a save percentage of .921. Smith is currently 8-2 with a goals against average of 2.00 and he has 214 saves.

Utica currently ranks ninth in the nation in team scoring (4.20 goals per game) and sixth in the nation in team defense (2.05 goals allowed per game). The Pioneers also have the sixth best power play in the nation (26.92%).

Following this weekend, the Pioneers will have three crucial conference games remaining. UC will travel to Aston, PA the following weekend for two-games against Neumann University on Feb. 11 and 12. Then, on Feb. 19, Utica will welcome conference leader Elmira College to “The Aud” for the final game of the regular season.