UTICA, NY (December 6, 2013) – The nationally-ranked No. 9/11 Utica College men's hockey team is set to host the ninth annual New York Sash Teddy Bear Toss on Saturday night as the Pioneers take on Salve Regina at the Utica Memorial Auditorium at 7 p.m.
SOLD OUT: This year's Teddy Bear Toss is sold out for the third consecutive season … Fans who were unable to secure tickets can watch the televised contest locally on WPNY or they can tune into the radio broadcast on 99.1 FM ESPN Radio … ESPN Radio's streaming audio broadcast will also be available online at www.espnur.com … Play-by-play analyst Dave Peroni and color analyst Fred Miller will be on the call … Streaming video of the contest will be available at www.empire8.tv and fans can also tune into Utica College's student radio broadcast on the dial at 90.7 FM WPNR … Utica College seniors Ray Biggs (play-by-play) and Vanessa Maines (color) will call the game for WPNR … Fans can also follow live updates on the Pioneers official Twitter feed, @UCPioneers … If you are at the game and on Twitter, or talking about the game on Twitter, make sure to use #LetsGoUC … Fans can also find updates on the Pioneers on Facebook page at www.facebook.com/UCpioneers.
WAY BACK WHEN: The first ever Teddy Bear Toss was December 6, 2005 against Hamilton College … Head Coach
Gary Heenan got the idea a year prior on a recruiting trip in Canada … Colin Kingston scored 7:30 into the first period as 459 stuffed animals rained down at the Utica Memorial Auditorium … The Pioneers ended up winning the game 4-2.
HOW DO THEY FARE?: The Pioneers 6-1-1 all-time in Teddy Bear Toss games at the AUD … Their only loss came against Curry back in 2007 when the Pioneers fell 3-2 … The biggest win in the game's history was a 12-0 victory over this year's opponent Salve Regina in 2011 … Last season UC edged out Buffalo State 4-3 in overtime … The Pioneers have won three straight Teddy Bear Toss games.
PARTY STARTERS: In eight games, there have been six different goal-scorers to kick off the festivities … Colin Kingston scored the first ever Teddy Bear Toss goal in 2005 and followed it up the following year in 2006 with his second straight TBT goal … Aaron Jeffery buried the big goal in 2007 … Former All-American Tim Coffman began the monsoon of stuffed animals in 2008 and 2009 …
Adam Graff (Bear, DE/Syracuse Stars (EJHL)) notched the all-important goal in 2010 … In 2011 it was another current Pioneer in
Ridge Garbutt (Toronto, Ontario/Brewster Academy (NH)) that got the people on their feet when he ripped a rebound home … Just a season ago in 2012,
Jon Gaffney (Dover, NJ/Springfield Blues (NAHL)) scored to send the Aud into a frenzy.
LAST SEASON'S THRILLER: Jon Gaffney (Dover, NJ/Springfield Blues (NAHL)) buried a rebound 13:16 into the first period to begin the Teddy Bear storm against Buffalo State last year … The Bengals responded just 35 seconds into the second period to tie the game 1-1 … Graff responded less than a minute and a half later to regain the lead at 2-1 for UC …
Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) extended the Utica lead to 3-1 heading into the third period when he tucked home a rebound on the power-play … The Bengals didn't go quietly, scoring twice in the third to tie the game at 3-3 with 1:40 left in regulation … Graff then jammed in his second of the night with 1:14 left in overtime to send the packed Utica Memorial Auditorium home happy … Goalie
Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) stopped 32 of 35 shots in the victory.
FUN FACTS: New York Sash and Utica College have collected nearly 20,000 stuffed animals since the first ever game back in 2005 … The fastest ever Teddy Bear Toss goal was in 2009 when Tim Coffman tallied just 1:30 into the game … The last three Teddy Bear Toss goal-scorers all have last names that begin with 'G', Graff, Garbutt and Gaffney … The Pioneers have always scored the first goal of the game … In 2005 there were 1,713 fans and 459 stuffed animals collected … In 2012 the AUD was sold out and over 4,500 stuffed animals were collected.
LAST TIME OUT: The Pioneers rebounded nicely from a loss at home on Friday night by topping host Connecticut College 5-1 in non-conference action Saturday night … Junior All-American
Louie Educate (Chicago, IL/Aberdeen (NAHL)) scored the first two goals of the contest … Senior defender
Steve Zappia (Buffalo, NY/Buffalo Jr. Sabres (OJAHL)) tallied the final two goals of the game in the Utica victory …
Marcus Zelzer (Green Bay, WI/Kenai River (NAHL)) made 24 saves as UC improved to 7-2-1 on the season.
OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Senior forward
Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) leads the Pioneers in points with 11 on three goals and eight assists …
Adam Graff (Bear, DE/Syracuse Stars (EJHL)) has 10 points and leads UC in goals with six …
Louie Educate (Chicago, IL/Aberdeen (NAHL)) buried twice against Connecticut College to give him eight points (4g, 4a) on the year …
Mike Baird (Oakville, Ontario/Huntsville (OJHL)) leads all defenseman with six points in ten games …
Rob Morton (New Hartford, NY/Merrimack (Hockey East)) has added six points to the offensive attack this season.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) and
Marcus Zelzer (Green Bay, WI/Kenai River (NAHL)) have shared time in net for UC thus far … Therrien has started seven games, amassing a 4-2-1 record with a .920 save percentage and 2.27 goals against average … Zelzer was just named ECAC West Goalie of the Week for the first time in his career after stopping 24 of 25 shots in the Pioneers' 5-1 win over Connecticut College … Zelzer has won all three of his starts, recording a .941 save percentage and 1.63 goals against average.
SCOUTING SALVE REGINA: The Seahawks enter the weekend at 6-3-0 and 4-1-0 in the ECAC Northeast conference … Salve Regina will play Neumann Friday night before the highly-anticipated Teddy Bear Toss game … The Seahawks are led offensively by Peter Gintoli (5g, 5a), Marc Biggs (3g, 7a), and Michael Naso (4g, 5a) … All three players are currently averaging over one point per game … Salve will rely on Mercyhurst College transfer Jake Williams in net … Williams is 5-3-0 and sports a .900 save percentage with a 3.05 goals against average.
RECENT MEETINGS: The Pioneers defeated the visiting Seahawks 6-2 last season at the AUD … The Pioneers jumped out to a 5-0 lead halfway through the game … Educate and
Donny Olivieri (Philadelphia, PA/Bismarck (NAHL)) each tallied three points on the evening … Therrien stopped all 12 shots he faced in 29 minutes of work … In 2011, a young Salve Regina team was the Teddy Bear Toss game participant … The Pioneers overmatched the Seahawks as the broke the game open with eight third period goals for a 12-0 victory.
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