Utica College 3, Manhattanville College 1 Box Score

Utica, NY - The Utica College men's hockey team defeated conference rival Manhattanville College, 3-1, to complete the season sweep of the Valiants.  The Pioneers improved to 17-5 overall including a 6-3 record in the ECAC Men's West Conference, while Manhattanville falls to 14-8-1 overall and now has a 2-8 mark in conference play.

UC jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, at 8:43, when Pioneer leading scorer Tim Coffman (Elverson, PA/Laconia (AJHL)) netted his 11 goal of the season off assists from sophomore Evan Chlanda (Islip, NY/Springfield (EJHL)) and freshmen defender Mike Slowikowski (Ewing, NJ/N.J. Hitmen (EJHL)). Utica secured a 1-0 advantage through the first 20 minutes of play, despite three penalties in just over ten minutes.

Freshman forward Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) broke away and struck the game-winning goal, short -handed, at 12:31, in the second period. Freshman speedster Chris Santiago (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles (BCHL)) had the lone dish on Hertz's tenth goal of the season. Sophomore forward Eric Peterson (Newton, NH/Valley (EJHL)) was penalized for checking from behind, at the buzzer, to give the Valiants a one man advantage to start the final period.

Manhattanville's Lem Randall would capitalize on the power-play, .40 seconds into the third period, pulling the Valiants within one goal of the lead. UC would fend off two more power-plays before freshman defender Doug Marshall (Garnett Valley, PA/N.J. Hitmen (EJHL)) tallied his first goal of the season, an empty-netter, with .17 seconds remaining in the game.

Freshman goalie Evan Smith (Penticton, British Columbia/Calgary Royals (AJHL)) earned first star status while stopping 22 shots and improving his record to 9-2 on the season.

Utica has now won four straight, and 12 of its last 14, setting a franchise record with 17 wins.  Completing a season sweep of Hobart and Manhattanville, the Pioneers are now in sole possesion of second place in the conference.

The Pioneers return to action Friday as they travel to Neumann University for the first of a two-game weekend series in Ashton, PA.  The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m.