UTICA, NY – The top seeded and nationally-ranked No. 12/15 Utica College men's hockey team is set to host third-seeded and nationally-ranked No. 6/7 Hobart College in the ECAC Men's West Conference Tournament Championship game on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
 
Tickets: Tickets for Saturday's ECAC West Championship game are on sale at the Utica Memorial Auditorium Box Office or online at http://empirestatetix.com/ … Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for non-Utica College students.
 
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.

The Road to The Aud: The Pioneers earned the top seed in the ECAC West Tournament with a program-best 12-2 regular season conference record and were rewarded with a quarterfinal bye as well home ice advantage throughout the playoffs … Last Saturday night, Utica sophomore Zach Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Gloucester (CCHL)) netted the game-winner with 2:16 left in regulation to help the Pioneers defeat Neumann University, 4-3, in the semifinals … Hobart earned a spot championship game after finishing third in the regular season standings and topping Stevenson 6-2 in the quarterfinals before earning another 6-2 win over host Manhattanville on Saturday in the semifinals.

The Rematch: Saturday's contest is a rematch of the 2016 ECAC West Championship game where the Statesmen came away with a 5-0 victory and the conference title at the Geneva Recreation Complex in Geneva, NY … Hobart rattled off three goals in 60 seconds late in the first period to take an early 3-0 lead and command of the contest.

Conference Tournament History: Utica is advancing to its third ECAC West title game in the last four years and fifth overall in the program's 16-year history… The Pioneers will host the Statesmen on Saturday in search of their first conference tournament title in program-history … The Pioneers will now have played Hobart (16-17, 15-16) and Elmira (13-14, 05-06) twice in the championship game and Manhattanville once (04-05) … Saturday marks the third time in program-history that the Utica Memorial Auditorium will play host to the ECAC West Conference Tournament Championship game.

So Far, So Good: The Pioneers currently hold an 18-8 overall record headed into Saturday … 18 wins marks the second most wins in a single season in program-history … The Pioneers have won eight of their last nine games … The Pioneers opened the season on an eight game winning streak before dropping seven of nine … UC then went on a seven game win streak before falling to Nazareth in their regular season finale.

Against Hobart: The Pioneer swept the season series 2-0 against Hobart … UC won 4-2 at The Cooler in November, and came back for a 3-2 victory at home in early February … This marks just the third time that these two teams are meeting in the playoffs, the first time was in the 2003-2004 season when UC traveled to take on Hobart in the ECAC West Conference semifinals … Hobart has outscored Utica 9-2 in two previous playoff games.

NCAA Implications: Utica jumped up two spots to the No. 6 seed in the NCAA East Regional Rankings after a win over Neumann and timely losses by Amherst and Babson, who were previously ranked ahead of the Pioneers … Hobart College is currently ranked No. 4 in the East Rankings … A win for Utica over Hobart on Saturday would improve the Pioneers record to 3-0 against Hobart this season, and would considerably improve UC's resume as they continue to make a case for a Pool C at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament. 

NCAA Tournament Selections: This week the NCAA Division III Men's Hockey National Committee released its third of four public regional rankings that will be used to determine both NCAA tournament bids and seeding … The division III men's hockey tournament selection show will air at 10:30 AM ET on Monday March 6^th (show here: http://www.ncaa.com/live/player?vid=2017/2804&date=2017/03/06)
 
National Rankings: Utica has moved back into the top 15 in both the D3hockey.com and USCHO.com national polls … The Pioneers are ranked 12^th by D3hockey.com and 15^th in the USCHO.com poll. 
 
All-Conference Performers: UC landed a league-best five players on ECAC Men's West All-Conference teams and two Pioneers were named to the all-rookie team in a release by the conference office on Tuesday ... Junior forward Roman Ammirato (Williamstown, NJ/Union College (ECAC)) and freshman goalie Patrik Virtanen (Vantaa, Finland/Lincoln (USHL)) were selected to the first team, while junior defender Vince Stefan (Pittsburgh, PA/Kenai River (NAHL)) was named to the second team … Anthony McVeigh (Kemptville, Ontario/Carleton Place (CCHL)) and Kevin Kirisits (Buffalo, NY/Brockville (CCHL)) were named honorable mention, while Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) and Patrik Virtanen (Vantaa, Finland/Lincoln (USHL)) earned all-rookie team status.
 
Ammirato Leads the Way: Ammirato, a junior transfer from Division I Union College, leads the team with 35 points on 12 goals and 23 assists … He ranks second in the ECAC West with an average of 1.35 points per game … He has 11 multi-point games headed into Saturday's conference tournament championship game … His 35 points are the most points scored by a Pioneer in a single season since All-American Louie Educate registered 36 points (18 goals, 18 assists) back in 2013.

Top Goalie in the League: Patrik Virtanen (Vantaa, Finland/Lincoln (USHL)) has had an impressive first year with the Pioneers … He finished regular season conference play ranked first in the league with a 1.76 goals against average, .940 save percentage and a 9-1 record in league games … He has 13 total wins and one shut out to his credit this year, to go along with a .919 save percentage in 18 games played.
 
Leading the Defense: Defenseman Vince Stefan (Pittsburgh, PA/Kenai River (NAHL)) was selected to the all-conference second team for the first time in his career … In 26 games, he ranks fourth on the team with a career-high 19 points on eight goals and 11 assists … His 19 points rank fourth in the league among defenseman … Five of his goals this season came in league play and he also has two game-winners to his credit … Kevin Kirisits (Buffalo, NY/Brockville (CCHL)), the team captain, has eight points for the Pioneers on two goals and six assists in his senior season with the team … He also ranks inside the top-25 in the conference for defenseman scoring … His 107 career games played ranks second all-time at Utica … He now has 30 career points in the blue and orange (eight goals, 22 assists).
 
Fierce Freshman: Freshman forward Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) was selected to Conference's the All-Rookie Team in his first season at Utica … He was a four-time ECAC West Rookie of the Week selection this season … Fitzpatrick has 11 goals and seven assists on the year for a total of 18 points … He ranks seventh in the conference for total points among rookies … His nine goals in conference play led the team this season … He also ranks second on the team with 11 total goals.

Helping Out on the Offensive End: Junior Anthony McVeigh (Kemptville, Ontario/Carleton Place (CCHL)), who led the Pioneers in scoring last season, is currently third on the team with 21 points by way of seven goals and 14 assists ... Utica is 16-3 in games where McVeigh has earned at least one point … He ranks inside the top-25 in the conference for total points on the season … 16 of his 21 total points came in conference play and he netted three power-play goals ... In 75 career games he has totaled 48 points (18 goals, 30 assists) … Junior Kevin Valenti (Queensbury, NY/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) ranks second on the team with a career-high 25 points this season (10 goals, 15 assists) … He has a team-high five power-play goals and is the Pioneers active career leading scorer with 55 points in 80 games played. 

Spreading the Wealth: The Pioneers have set a new program-record with 14 players registering 10 or more points this season.

Scouting Hobart: Hobart has won two straight ECAC West Tournament crowns and is in search of its third consecutive bid into the NCAA Tournament … The Statesmen are currently 19-4-4 overall … Hobart senior Nick Bingaman is the Statesmen's top scoring threat … He has a team-high 18 goals and 10 assists… Goalie Frank Oplinger played in the first two games of the tournament where he made a combined 61 saves… Oplinger is now 10-4-2 and recorded a team-high 489 saves this season … Senior Carl Belizario was recently named the ECAC West Defensive Player of the Year … He helped his side post the league's stingiest defense during the regular season, as the Statesmen allowed just 60 goals in 25 regular-season outings … The blue-liner chipped in offensively as well, compiling 13 points (four goals, nine assists) with three goals and seven assists coming in league action.
 
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.