UTICA, NY -- The top-seeded and nationally-ranked No. 14 Utica College men's hockey team returns home on Saturday night to host fifth-seeded Neumann University in the ECAC Men's West Conference Tournament semifinals at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The contest is scheduled to begin at 7p.m.

Tickets: Individual home game tickets are on sale at the AUD ticket office or online at http://empirestatetix.com/ … Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for non-Utica College students … If the Pioneers win the semifinals they will host the ECAC West Conference Tournament championship game on March 4th at 1 p.m. … Pending a Pioneer victory in the semi's, tickets for the ECAC West Championship game will go on sale immediately following Saturday night's game. 

Radio Broadcast: Saturday's game will be broadcast over the radio airwaves on ESPN Utica/Rome (1310 AM) by UC alum and d3hockey.com editor Ray Biggs … Live streaming audio can be accessed on ESPNUR's website, www.espnur.com ... 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 Utica College's student radio, WPNR 90.7 FM.

Conference Tournament History: The Pioneers have played in 18 ECAC Men's Conference Tournament games dating back to 2004… They have advanced to the finals of the conference tournament four times (2005, 2006, and 2014, 2016) in program-history ... Utica has five ECAC West post season victories under its belt in program-history .. Two of those post season wins came last year as they fought through the quarterfinals and semifinals to advance to the conference tournament championship game, eventually falling to Hobart … Utica is in search of its first postseason win over Neumann … The Pioneers are 0-5 against the Knights in five previous tournament games.

Regular Season Champs: Utica, the top seed in the conference tournament, has now won the ECAC West Regular season title in three of the last five seasons … The Pioneers earned a program-best 12-2 record in ECAC West Play this year … Utica's only two conference losses came at the hands of Nazareth College … Utica went 6-1 in conference games at home this season.

Overall Record: The Pioneers finished the regular season with a 17-8 overall record … 17 wins is tied for second on the program's all-time single season wins list … The last time UC won at least 17 games in a single season was back in 2013-14 when the Pioneers earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the national semifinals in Lake Placid for the first and only time in program-history.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers snapped a seven game win streak last Friday at home after a 4-1 loss to Nazareth in the regular season finale … Utica freshman forward Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) tied the team lead with his 11th goal of the season to cut the Pioneers deficit to 2-1 at the 12:44 marker of the second period... Senior captain Kevin Kirisits (Buffalo, NY/Brockville (CCHL)) registered an assist on senior night, while junior Kevin Valenti (Queensbury, NY/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) also added a helper on the Pioneers' lone goal of the evening.

Ups and Downs: UC started the season off with a bang, winning eight straight games and rising as high as No. 4 in the USCHO.com National Poll … They then lost seven of their next nine contests, before beginning their seven game win streak that was snapped last weekend.

Eyeing the Polls: UC is ranked No. 8 in the second release of the NCAA Division III East Regional Rankings … This week's NCAA Regional rankings are the second of four regional rankings that will be released to the public and they will be used to determine both NCAA tournament bids and seeding … The final rankings will be determined on March 5, as the NCAA Committee will release its bracket for the 12 team NCAA Division III Tournament … Utica is currently ranked No. 14 in the latest D3hockey.com National Poll and the Pioneers are receiving votes in the USCHO.com National Poll.

Top Fan Base in the D3 Hockey: The Pioneers led Division III men's hockey in home attendance for the 11th consecutive year this season … In 14 home dates 46,557 tickets were spoken for at the Utica Memorial Auditorium … Utica's average home attendance of 3,326 beat out second place Oswego State (2,399) … In conference home games this season the Pioneers went 6-1-0.

Player of the Year Candidate: Junior forward Roman Ammirato (Williamstown, NJ/Union College (ECAC)) still leads the team with 11 goals this season … He finished the regular season tied for third in the ECAC West with 33 points … He ranks 29th nationally with an average of 1.32 points per game … Ammirato is also third in the league with 22 assists … He posted a career-best four assists in the Pioneers' 7-2 win over Lebanon Valley two weeks ago.

Hot Hand: Patrik Virtanen (Vantaa, Finland/Lincoln (USHL)), who has earned league weekly honors three out of the last four weeks, is 12-5 this season and boasts a team-high 434 saves … The Finnish-born net minder has won six out of his last seven starts and in conference games this season he is second in the league in goals against average (2.40), save percentage (.919%) and he is 9-1.

Forward Tandem: Junior's Kevin Valenti (Queensbury, NY/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) and Anthony McVeigh (Kemptville, Ontario/Carleton Place (CCHL)) have contributed heavily on the offensive end for the Pioneers this season ... Valenti is second on the team with 25 points on 10 goals and 15 assists... McVeigh is third on the team with 20 points, by way of six goals and 14 assists … In games where McVeigh has registered at least one point for UC, the team is 15-4 on the season.

Phenomenal Freshman: Freshman forward Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) has provided a spark for the Pioneers all season long … He finished ECAC West regular season play ranked fifth in the league in goal scoring with nine goals in 14 conference games … His 14 points in conference play ranked third among rookies.

Career Year: Several players have stepped up their play this season to push the Pioneers to an ECAC West regular season title … Junior defender Vince Stefan (Pittsburgh, PA/Kenai River (NAHL)) and junior forward Mikhail Bushinski (Woodbury, MN/Kenai River (NAHL)) each have a career-high 18 points … Justin Derlago (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Selkirk (MJHL)) and Riley Egan (Lakewood, OH/Philadelphia (EHL)) have each shown spurts of greatness throughout the season, posting 11 points each.

Everyone's in on the Action: 14 different Pioneers have scored at least 10 points this season and 23 players have registered at least one point.

Scouting Neumann: The Knights are coming off a dominating 4-1 victory at Nazareth College in the quarterfinals of the ECAC West Tournament on Wednesday … Neumann is currently 16-7-3 overall and 7-6-1 in the Conference…Senior Jory Mullin is leading the Knights with 44 points (26 goals and 18 assists)…He is currently leading the conference with an average of 1.76 points per game…Fellow classmate Shayne Morrissey is right on his tail averaging 1.35 points per game … On the season he has 35 total points.

Against Neumann: During the regular season, Utica won both of the matchups against Neumann by a combined score of 10-6 … Utica is 3-0-1 against the Knights in their last four meetings. 

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 6th 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 6th … Online sales begin at 1 p.m. on March 6th. 

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.