Utica 2, Manhattanville 1 - Box Score
Rye, N.Y. - The nationally-ranked No. 8 Utica College men's hockey team scored two unanswered goals, one in each of the final two periods, to defeat No. 10 Manhattanville College 2-1 in an ECAC Men's West Conference contest Friday night at the Playland Ice Casino. The Pioneers have now won three in a row and tied the school record for wins in a single season as they improved to 16-5 overall on the year.
"It's a big road win,” said Head Coach Gary Heenan. “We got a huge short handed goal from Hobaica
and Zappia scored his first power-play goal of the season. This was a total team effort.”
The Pioneers hope to complete the season series sweep of the Valiants when both teams travel back to central New York for game two of the home and home weekend series at the Aud Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Pioneers, who advanced to 5-3 in conference play and currently stand alone in second place, are currently 11-2 at the friendly confines of the Utica Memorial Auditorium this season.
Manhatanville (14-7-1, 2-7 ECAC West) opened the scoring midway through the first period when Luc Van Natter scored his fourth goal of the season off an assist from Marcus von Sydow at the 9:42 mark.
The Pioneers answered with 5:34 to go in the second period when freshman forward Jordan Hobaica (Clinton, NY/Northwood School) netted a key short-handed goal off an assist from classmate Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) to knot the score at 1-1 headed into the third period of play.
UC's Steve Zappia (Buffalo, NY/Buffalo Jr. Sabres (OJAHL)) came up with his first collegiate goal on the power-play with less than nine minutes to go in the contest to seal the victory for the Pioneers. Junior captain Tim Coffman (Elverson, PA/Laconia (AJHL)) and sophomore forward Evan Chlanda (Islip, NY/Springfield (EJHL)) assisted on what proved to be the game-winner.
Freshman goalie Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) made 16 saves and more importantly he fended off all seven power-plays he faced to preserve his eighth victory of the season. Utica outshot the Valiants 21-17 on the evening as it improved to 2-0 against Manhattanville this season.
Saturday nights game will be available on the radio locally on WIBX 950 AM or check www.ucpioneers.com for links to live video, audio and stats.
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