Utica, NY (2/11/2014) – The nationally-ranked No.15 Utica College men's hockey team returns to the ice on Friday night at 7 p.m. when it hosts ECAC West Conference foe Nazareth College at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Friday is "Oneida County Stop DWI Night at the Aud" and the first 500 fans through the gates will receive a free Oneida County Stop DWI key chain.
Follow All the Action: Several options are available to follow the contest if you cannot make it out to Utica Memorial Auditorium… Both games will be broadcast on ESPN Radio 99.1 FM or online at
www.espnur.com… Both games will also be called by play-by-play man Ray Biggs on WPNR 90.7 FM, and WPNR's streaming audio is online:
HERE... Live stats for the game can be found online:
HERE and live video for the games can be viewed at
www.empire8.tv… 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.
Last Weekend: UC won both games against ECAC West foe Neumann University at the Aud, including a 3-1 victory over the Knights on Friday night and a 4-2 victory on Saturday night... Senior
Ridge Garbutt (Toronto, Ontario/Brewster Academy (NH)) led the Pioneers with two points on Friday (one goal, one assist), while junior
Mike Baird (Oakville, Ontario/Huntsville (OJHL)) and freshman
Luc Boby (Chicago, IL/Kalamazoo (NAHL)) scored the other two goals… Senior
Jon Gaffney (Dover, NJ/Springfield Blues (NAHL)) led the Pioneers with three points Saturday night (one goal, two assists), while three other Pioneers scored two points: Boby (two goals); senior
Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) (one goal, one assist); and senior
Steve Charest (Amqui, Quebec/Walpole Express (AJHL)) (two assists)… Boby scored the game-winning goal in both games... Senior goalie
Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) stopped 40 shots over the weekend… Last weekend's sweep of Neumann extended UC's winning streak to three games.
ECAC West: The Pioneers (13-5-4, 8-3-1 ECAC West) are currently leading the conference with 17 points, one point ahead of Elmira (13-8-0, 8-3-0 ECAC West)… Elmira has played one less conference game than UC as both teams wrestle for first place down the stretch… The Pioneers have three games left in the season, all against ECAC West opponents at the Aud… Utica is trying to earn the conference's top spot for the first time since the 2004-2005 season.
Last Time UC & Nazereth Met: Nazareth College came out on top with a 2-1 upset win in overtime… The Pioneers led early in the first period on the road, but the Golden Flyers scored two unanswered goals to win its first game against UC in program history… Senior
Jon Gaffney (Dover, NJ/Springfield Blues (NAHL)) scored the lone goal off freshman
Luc Boby (Chicago, IL/Kalamazoo (NAHL))'s assist… Senior goalie
Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) recorded 27 saves.
Pioneers vs. Nazareth in the Past: UC is 3-1 in all four of its games played against Nazareth College, including a 3-1 victory in the season opener… In the four games UC has played against Nazareth, junior
Mike Slowikowski (Ewing, NJ/N.J. Hitmen (EJHL)) leads all Pioneers with five points (two goals, three assists)… Senior goalie
Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) has started every game in net between the two programs, stopping 90 of 96 shots in four games.
Scouting Nazareth: The ice hockey program at Nazareth is in its second season… The Golden Flyers are currently 7-14-1 overall and 3-8-1 in the ECAC West … They are 5-2 in the last seven games, which includes a 2-1 overtime win at home against UC… Freshman Ben Blasko leads Nazareth in scoring this season with 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) and junior Tom Seravalli is second with 17 points (eight goals, nine assists)… Sophomore goalie Ed Zdolshek has appeared in 20 of Nazareth's 22 games, starting 19… Zdolshek has a .908 save percentage this season, allowing 3.14 goals per game… Zdolshek stopped 54 of 58 shots en route to earning ECAC West Goalie of the Week honors last weekend.
In the National Spotlight: Utica is ranked No. 15 in the latest USCHO.com national poll … The Pioneers have been ranked in the nation's top 15 in the USCHO.com national polls since the beginning of the season … UC is No. 15 nationally in scoring margin (1.14) and No. 18 in scoring offense/defense (3.50/2.36 goals per game).
Athlete of the Week: Freshman
Luc Boby (Chicago, IL/Kalamazoo (NAHL)) was named Utica College's Male Athlete of the Week and ECAC West Rookie of the Week on Monday… Boby netted three goals, including two game winners, in UC's weekend sweep of Neumann University… Boby now has four goals in his last three appearances… Boby has 13 points this season (six goals, seven assists).
The 100 Club: Senior
Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) now has 98 career points (44 goals, 54 assists) in 99 games played … Hertz is third on UC's all-time scoring list after he surpassed 2013 graduate
Evan Chlanda (Islip, NY/Springfield (EJHL)) two weeks ago… Chlanda registered 93 points in 98 games as a Pioneer (40 goals, 53 assists) … Hertz now needs just two points to become the third player in program-history to score 100 or more points in a career… Tim Coffman '12 and Jimmy Sokol '05 are the only two players to score 100 points in a Pioneer uniform.
Pioneers on the National Leaderboard: UC senior
Ridge Garbutt (Toronto, Ontario/Brewster Academy (NH)) has two shorthanded goals this year which is tied for third nationally in that category… His last shorthanded tally came against Hamilton on Jan. 25… Garbutt has 19 points on the season (eight goals, 11 assists)… Senior goalie
Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) is tied for 16th nationally in winning percentage (10-3-2, .733) and is ranked 20th in goals against average (2.12) … Hertz and Boby are tied for 14th with three game-winning goals this season… Boby has scored a game-winning goal in each of the last two games.
Goalies Sharing Time: Utica goalies
Nick Therrien (Rochester, NH/NY Apple Core (EJHL)) and freshman
Marcus Zelzer (Green Bay, WI/Kenai River (NAHL)) have split time in net for the majority of the season… Therrien has a 2.12 goals against average (20th nationally) … Zelzer has a 2.77 GAA and a 3-2-2 overall record between the pipes.
Veteran Leadership: Four of the Pioneers' top five scorers this season are seniors …
Adam Graff (Bear, DE/Syracuse Stars (EJHL)) leads the team with nine goals …
Trever Hertz (Jaffray, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires (BCHL)) has a team-best 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists)…
Ridge Garbutt (Toronto, Ontario/Brewster Academy (NH)) is second on the team with 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists), while
Jon Gaffney (Dover, NJ/Springfield Blues (NAHL)) is third with 17 points this year (seven goals, 10 assists) … Gaffney has 90 points over the course of his career.
Looking Ahead: Utica will return home next week to host ECAC West rival Manhattanville College for two games to wrap up the regular season ... The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m.
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