Box Score #9 Utica 11, Elmira 2 - Men's Hockey Final

Utica, NY (11/16/2012) – The nationally-ranked No. 9 Utica College men's hockey team came out on top 11-2 against visiting Elmira College in the Pioneers most lopsided victory over the Soaring Eagles in program-history. Utica's nine goal victory came before a paid attendance of 3,847 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium Friday night.

UC turned four power-plays into goals as it bounced back from its first loss of the season last weekend at Neumann and improved to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in ECAC Men's West Conference play.  The Pioneers penalty kill unit held the visitors to an 0-for-11 effort with a man advantage. 

Utica improved to 9-17-5 overall against Elmira in 31 meetings all-time.  UC had never scored more than nine goals against Elmira headed into the contest and the Pioneers had not beaten the Soaring Eagles since the 2008-09 season.  The two teams will square off again on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Eight different Pioneers registered a multi-point evening, including sophomore transfer Louis Educate who tallied a career-high six point effort.  Educate finished the night with four goals (career-best) and two assists. His previous best was three goals on multiple occasions as a freshman at Nichols College last year.  Senior captain Evan Chlanda (Islip, NY/Springfield (EJHL)), freshman Joel Wetmore (Horseheads, NY/Lindsay (OJHL)), junior Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) and Rob Morton (New Hartford, NY/Merrimack (Hockey East)) each recorded three points on the afternoon, while senior Robert Etts (Smithtown, NY/Hitmen (EJHL)) and sophomore Mike Baird (Oakville, Ontario/Huntsville (OJHL)) each tallied two assists.  Freshman Donny Olivieri (Philadelphia, PA/Bismarck (NAHL)) joined Wetmore in scoring his first collegiate goal while also adding one assist. Morton posted two goals and one assist, while Chlanda, Wetmore and Hertz each registered one goal and two assists. 

UC came out of the gates hot, much to the delight of the large Utica contingent at the Aud on First Source Federal Credit Union's "Pucks For Posters" Night, by scoring three first period goals to take a 3-0 lead.  Elmira would not go down easy, netting the first two goals of the second period to make it a one goal affair. 

Utica went on to score five unanswered goals in the second period, including three straight from the stick of Educate in less than a four minute span, to take a commanding 8-2 lead headed into the third period of play. 

The Pioneers went on to add three more goals in the third period, and Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) remained strong in net, to seal the nine goal victory. Therrien stopped 26 shots on the afternoon in his fourth win of the season. 

Elmira used three different goaltenders as it was outshot 51-28.  Darren McDonald stopped 14 shots before leaving the game early in the second period due to injury.  Ryan deMelo stopped 15 shots in the second period and Matt Milne added 11 saves in the final 20 minutes between the pipes for the Soaring Eagles. 

D'Arcy Oakes and Brian Depp each added a goal for the visitors.  Depp also registered an assist for the Soaring Eagles.  The second period alone featured 17 penalties. 34 penalties were handed out for a total of 106 penalty minutes.

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