Tickets are still available for Saturday night's NCAA Quarterfinal between UC and Bowdoin
Utica, NY (3/8/13)- The Utica College men's hockey team is set to host Bowdoin College (23-3-2) in the NCAA Division III Men's Hockey Quarterfinals Saturday night at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Game time is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
Tickets: Tickets are currently on sale at the Auditorium Box Office, $8 Adults/$4 students with ID and children 18-under … The Auditorium Box office is open Monday – Friday 10 a.m. -4 p.m. Fans can also purchase tickets online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/259 … Tickets will also be sold on the night of the game, if available.
Record Breaking Season: The Pioneers, who are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, set a new program record for wins in a season (20)… Utica earned a share of the ECAC Men's West Regular Season Title en route to earning the top seed in the conference tournament … Junior
Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) set a new school-record with 18 wins in net and Head Coach
Gary Heenan was named ECAC West Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.
Live Coverage: Live Stats and video will be provided for the contest (Live Stats / Live Video)… Utica College's radio station WPNR (90.7 FM) and WTLB's ESPN Radio (99.1 FM) will be broadcasting live audio as well … You can also listen on line (WTLB Broadcast / WPNR Broadcast)
Educate Leading the Way: Sophomore
Louie Educate (Chicago, IL/Aberdeen (NAHL)), who was named the conference's player of the year, leads the ECAC West and ranks 13th nationally with 35 (17 goals, 18 assists) points on the season… He needs two more goals to tie the College's single-season record of 19 set back in 2009-10 by former Utica All-American
Tim Coffman (Elverson, PA/Laconia (AJHL))… UC is 11-1 this season when Educate scores at least one goal.
Therrien Rock Solid in Net: Junior goalie
Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) has posted a banner year in net for the Pioneers … He currently ranks 17th nationally with a 2.13 goals against average and 21st nationally with a .924 save percentage … Most importantly, he ranks seventh in the nation with a .804 winning percentage.
First Meeting: Saturday's contest marks the first meeting all-time between these two programs.
Scouting Bowdoin: Bowdoin, an automatic selection to the NCAA Tournament, won the New England Small College Athletic Conference Tournament with a 2-1 win over Williams on Sunday, March 3 ... The Polar Bears are making their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance overall (also in 1996, 2002, 2010 and 2011) … In the NCAA's prior tournament format of two-game quarterfinal series, the Polar Bears were swept by Wisconsin-River Falls in '96 and Norwich in '02 … They Polar Bears lost to Oswego in the quarterfinals in 2009 … In 2011, Bowdoin won its first NCAA Tournament game (2-1 over Neumann) before falling again to Oswego in the quarterfinal round. Bowdoin won it's second-ever NCAA Tournament game on Wednesday night (5-2 over UMass Dartmouth). As per NESCAC rules, Bowdoin was unable to participate in NCAA Championships prior to 1993-94, and won six ECAC crowns from 1971-1993. (Information Provided by Bowdoin Sports Information).
Looking Ahead: The winner of Saturday's game will head to Lake Placid, NY next weekend for the NCAA Division III Final Four at legendary Herb Brooks Arena … The winner will square off against either St. Norbert (two-time defending national champion) or Wisconsin - Eau Claire … The semifinals are on Friday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. and the championship game will be at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 16.
