Utica, NY -- The Utica College men's hockey team returns to the Utica Memorial Auditorium on Friday to take on the University of New England Nor'easters on Indium Night at the Aud. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. 

Indium Night: Friday night is Indium Corporation Night at the Aud as the Pioneers welcome to the game several employees, families and friends of Indium Corporation … Indium Corporation is a premier materials manufacturer and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets … Founded in 1934, Indium has global technical support and factories located in China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the USA … For more information about Indium Corporation, visit www.indium.com.

Radio Broadcast: Several Utica College hockey home games will be broadcast over the radio airwaves on ESPN Utica/Rome (1310 AM) by UC alum Ray Biggs … Live streaming audio can be accessed on ESPNUR's website, www.espnur.com ... Archives of each contest will also be listed on ESPNUR's website for those who cannot listen live … Listeners can also download the ESPN Utica/Rome App available in the Google Play store and on Apple ITunes by searching "ESPNUR".
 
Pioneers All-Access: Make sure to catch live video, audio and stats for all home games on Pioneers All-Access: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/ … Audio is provided by ESPNUR.
 
Tickets: Individual home game tickets are on sale at the AUD ticket office or online at http://empirestatetix.com/ … Individual game tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for non-Utica College students … Online ticket purchases will incur a $3.50 processing fee per ticket. 

UC So Far: The Pioneers are currently 10-5 this season and are still undefeated with a perfect 6-0 record in ECAC West Conference play … UC opened the season with a program-best 8-0 ledger before falling in four straight contests … The Pioneers got back on track with two consecutive wins over Morrisville and Curry, before falling to nationally-ranked Oswego in the Pathfinder Bank Classic Championship game last Saturday night.

Receiving Votes: The Pioneers remain in the receiving votes category of the USCHO.com and D3hockey.com National Polls … UC earned eight votes in the D3hockey.com poll and four votes in the USCHO.com poll, released Monday … After starting the season 8-0 Utica was ranked has high as No. 4 according to USCHO.com.
 
Last Weekend: Utica started the New Year strong with a 4-1 victory over Curry College in game one of the Pathfinder Classic Friday … Junior's Vince Stefan (Pittsburgh, PA/Kenai River (NAHL)), Mikhail Bushinski (Woodbury, MN/Kenai River (NAHL)), Dalton Carter (Toledo, OH/Northern Cyclones (EHL)), and senior Luc Boby (Chicago, IL/Kalamazoo (NAHL)) each scored a goal in the Pioneers' victory… Freshman goalie Patrik Virtanen (Vantaa, Finland/Lincoln (USHL)) stopped 27 shots against Curry … In the championship game of the Pathfinder Classic on Saturday, Utica faced off against nationally-ranked Oswego State … In the first period, freshman Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) netted his sixth goal of the year on a power play to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead… But the Lakers recovered from their early mistake and scored one goal in the second period and three goals in the third to beat the Pioneers 4-1.
 
All-Tournament Team Honors: Utica junior Vince Stefan (Pittsburgh, PA/Kenai River (NAHL)) was named to the All-Tournament team for his stellar performance in the Pathfinder Classic… Stefan scored one goal and had one assist on the weekend … He now leads all UC defenseman and ranks second in the conference with 12 points this year.
 
Point Production: Utica junior Roman Ammirato (Williamstown, NJ/Union College (ECAC)) is tied for third in the ECAC West with an average of 1.40 points per contest … He has nine goals and 12 assists this season … The junior transfer began his career at Utica with an 11 game scoring streak, but has slowed down as of late, registering one point in his last four outings … Junior forward Kevin Valenti (Queensbury, NY/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) ranks second on the team and 12^th in the conference with an average of 1.00 points per game … He has seven goals and eight assists in 15 games this season … Mikhail Bushinski (Woodbury, MN/Kenai River (NAHL)) has 13 points in 13 games and Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) ranks third on the team with six goals  …  He is tied for eighth in freshman scoring in the conference with an average of .75 points per game. 

Between the Pipes: Freshman goalie Patrik Virtanen (Vantaa, Finland/Lincoln (USHL)) earned two straight starts for the first time all year last weekend, as he was previously splitting weekend sets with junior goalie Henry Dill (Columbus, OH/UMASS (Hockey East)) … Virtanen is 6-3 this year and has a team high 216 saves … Virtanen currently ranks third in the ECAC West in goals against average (2.17) and save percentage (.923).

Power-Play Scoring: Senior defender Connor Schmidt (Monroe, MI/Arizona State (D1-Ind.)) is tied for sixth in the ECAC West with eight power-play points this season … He has one goal and seven assists when the Pioneers have a man advantage.

Scary When Short-Handed: Utica's Vince Stefan (Pittsburgh, PA/Kenai River (NAHL)) and Kevin Valenti (Queensbury, NY/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) each have three points when the Pioneers are short-handed … Their two goals and one assist when short-handed are tied for the conference lead.

High Powered Offense: Utica's offense currently ranks second in the conference with an average of 4.00 goals per game … The Pioneers have 60 goals in 15 games … Neumann University leads the ECAC West with 78 goals in 16 games. 

Defense Holding Strong: The Utica defense ranks second in the conference with a scoring defense of 2.73 goals per game … The Pioneers also have the second ranked penalty kill unit in the conference, holding opponents scoreless on the power-play in 68-of-77 chances.

NCAA Div. III Championships: On March 24-25, Utica College and the City of Utica will proudly host the NCAA Division III Men's Hockey Championships at the Aud for the first time in program history … The four remaining teams in the NCAA Div. III Tournament will make their way to Utica, NY to participate in the semifinals and the finals at the Utica Memorial Auditorium … Tickets for the championship will go on sale on March 6^th at the Auditorium Box Office and online at empirestatetix.com … Exclusive in-person sales at the box office will take place from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. on Monday, March 6^th …  Online sales begin at 1 p.m. on March 6^th.

Scouting the Nor'easters: Friday night marks the first time these two teams have met in the 16 year history of the UC men's hockey program … The University of New England men's hockey team is 5-5-1 overall and is 4-4-1 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference… They kicked off the 2017 year with an exhibition game at home against the United States National Under 18 Team… The Nor'easters beat this US, 5-2… UNE came back with a 6-4 win over Bowdoin College … Senior Trevor Fleurent has scored a team-high nine goals this season… His brother Brady Fleurent leads the team in points (21) and assists (14)… The Nor'easters have a strong goalie class this season as all three of their goalkeepers have more than 80 saves this season … Sophomore Connor Maloney has a team-high 95 saves in the five games he has played ... Freshman Tate Sproxton and sophomore Joe Noonan have each played four games …. Noonan made 83 saves, while Sproxton has 93. 
 
Social Media: Make sure to follow live updates of the game on the Pioneers official Twitter feed: @UCPioneers… You can also "Like" the Pioneers on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UCpioneers ... Fans can also follow the Pioneers on Instagram: UCPioneers.
 
Pioneer Pride Points: Utica athletics has a fan rewards program to promote fan engagement for all 26 of UC's intercollegiate sports… Powered by SuperFanU, the "Pioneer Pride Points" Fan Rewards app uses GPS tracking to recognize where fans are located at specified home games… Points are earned by attending and "Checking In" to UC athletics games, participating in a variety of contests and interacting with social media platforms through the app… The app is available on all IPhone and Android devices by searching 'Pioneer Pride Points' in the Apple App Store or GooglePlay Market and is free to all Utica College students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and fans.

Looking Ahead: The Pioneers will be back on the road on Jan. 20 to start the second half of the ECAC West schedule at Nazareth …  Then Utica will be back home again on Jan. 21 to faceoff against SUNY Potsdam.  Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.