UC's Mike Slowikowski celebrates after scoring a goal in the Pioneers' last game before break against the Team USA U-18's
UTICA, NY (1/2/2014) – The nationally-ranked No. 8/9 Utica College men's hockey team returns to the ice on Friday afternoon following a 19 day break to take on University of Wisconsin-Stout at the PathFinder Bank/Oswego Hockey Classic hosted by Oswego State at the Campus Center Ice Arena. The puck is scheduled to drop at 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
PathFinder Bank Classic: The eighth annual PathFinder Bank/Oswego Hockey Classic brings in teams from around the country competing in one of the most competitive tournaments in Division III … This year's field features host Oswego State, ranked 13th in the country, along with Utica College of the ECAC West, Wisconsin-Stout of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and Curry College of the ECAC Northeast …
Utica will take on Wisc.-Stout in the first semifinal game Friday before Oswego takes on Curry College (7 p.m.) on the other semifinal match … The consolation game will be played Saturday at 4 p.m. prior to the finals, which is slated for 7 p.m. … This year marks the first time that the Pioneers will be participating in the PathFinder Classic at Oswego … Last season, Oswego defeated Lawrence University to earn its fourth-ever Pathfinder Classic Championship trophy and first since the 2009-10 season.
Catch All the Action: Several options are available to follow the tournament contests if you cannot make it out to Campus Center Ice arena … Friday night's game will be called by play-by-play man Ray Biggs on WPNR 90.7 FM or follow audio online at :
www.utica.edu/student/activities/organizations/wpnr/listenlive.cfm ... Play-by-play man Dave Peroni and color analyst Fred Miller will be covering Utica College's tilt on Saturday on the local radio airwaves at ESPN Radio 99.1 FM or online at
www.espnur.com … Live stats for all tournament games can be found online at:
www.sidearmstats.com/oswego/mhockey/ and live video for all game that Oswego plays in can be viewed at:
athletics.oswego.edu/showcase/ … 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 Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/UCpioneers.
UC Against the Field: Utica will be squaring off against Wisc.-Stout for the first time in program-history … The last time Utica took on a team from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was in the 2013 NCAA Tournament semi-final game in Lake Placid last season when the Pioneers lost to eventual national champion Wisc.-Eau Claire at the legendary Herb Brooks Arena … Utica has defeated Oswego in three of their last four meetings, including two victories over the Lakers last year … The Pioneers are currently 6-11 all-time against Oswego … The last time Utica traveled to the Campus Center Ice Arena, the Pioneers topped the Lakers, 3-2 … Utica has a two game winning streak going against Curry College, defeating the Colonels by a combined score of 12-5 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium in 2012 and 20111 … Utica is 2-3 all-time against Curry … All three of the Pioneers losses to Curry were by one goal.
In the National Spotlight: Utica is currently ranked No. 8 in the latest D3hockey.com National Poll and No. 9 in the USCHO.com National Poll … Utica's scoring offense ranks 20th in Division III as the Pioneers are currently averaging 3.64 goals per game … UC's scoring defense is even more impressive and the Pioneers are holding opponents to just 2.00 goals per game, good for 12th in the nation … UC is defeating teams by an average margin of 1.64, which ranks tenth nationally … The Pioneers are killing penalties at a clip of 86%, allowing just eight power play goals through 11 games … Utica is one of 14 teams in the nation with eight or more victories before the holiday break.
Last Time Out: The Utica College men's hockey team knocked off the US National Under-18 Team, 4-1, on December 14, 2013 in an exhibition contest at the Utica Memorial Auditorium … After trailing 1-0 in the first period, the Pioneers used three second period goals and added one more in the final stanza to upset a USA team that had defeated Division 1 and third-ranked Michigan University the weekend prior to traveling to Utica … The last time Team USA lost to a Division III program was back in 2011 when Manhatanville topped the U-18's by the score of 2-1.
Spreading the Wealth: Nine different Pioneers have at least five points this season … 25 different players have scored at least one point for Utica this year.
On the Road Again: The Pioneers are unbeaten with a 5-0-1 record this year on the road.
Graff Getting it Done: Senior forward
Adam Graff (Bear, DE/Syracuse Stars (EJHL)) is having a break out year for the Pioneers and he currently leads the team with 12 points on six goals and six assists … He has scored at least one point in seven of the Pioneers' 11 games so far this season … His best game this season was back on November 23rd when he lifted the Pioneers past Hobart with a hat-trick.
Climbing the Record Books: Senior
Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) is the Pioneers active career scoring leader with 88 points in 88 career games … Hertz ranks fourth all-time at UC with 39 goals and 49 career assists and he now needs six points to move into third place all-time at UC … Tim Coffman '12 is the Pioneers' all-time leading scorer (139 career points), Pioneer Hall of Famer Jimmy Sokol '05 ranks second (129) and recent graduate
Evan Chlanda (Islip, NY/Springfield (EJHL)) '13 ranks third (93) … Utica senior forward
Jon Gaffney (Dover, NJ/Springfield Blues (NAHL)) ranks fifth all-time with 80 career points (38 goals, 42 assists) … Utica's Louie Educated has 44 career points in the orange and blue and he also chipped in with a 42 point freshman campaign at Nichols, before transferring to UC, for a total of 86 points at the collegiate level.
Solid Goaltending: Senior goalie
Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) currently ranks 19th nationally with a 2.11 goals against average (Minimum 75% of Team Games Played to be ranked) … He also ranks 20th nationally in save percentage (.926) …Freshman goalie
Marcus Zelzer (Green Bay, WI/Kenai River (NAHL)) is coming off an impressive 29 save victory over Team USA U-18's prior to the break … Zelzer is a perfect 3-0 this season with a .941 save percentage and a 1.63 goals against average.
Getting to Know Wisc.-Stout: The Blue Devils are coming off their biggest win of the season after defeating nationally-ranked No. 3 Wisc.-Stevens Point, 3-2, on the road on December 7, 2013 … They are currently 3-7 overall and they have lost six of their last seven games … Five of their last six losses have come by just one goal … Kevin O'Donnell leads the Blue Devils with 12 points on seven goals and five assists this season … Corey Koop has started all ten games between the pipes for Stout this year and he has a 2.89 goals against average.
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