UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's hockey team returns from the holiday break on Friday, January 4th as it hosts Skidmore College in a non-conference game at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Boy Scout Night: UC Men's Hockey is pleased to continue its partnership with the Boy Scouts of America's Leatherstocking Council by presenting Boy Scout night on Friday evening. Through a special arrangement, area scout leaders have been able to pick up complimentary tickets in advance for their scouts to attend Friday's game, and nearly 500 scouts are expected to take in the game. The Pioneers participated in preseason team building activities at the Camp Kingsley Scout Reservation located just outside of Rome.

Get Your Tickets: Tickets to see the Pioneers are available through multiple methods. Fans can purchase tickets online at EmpireStateTix.com in advance of any UC home game. In addition, fans can purchase tickets at the Aud box office during regular business hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The box office is also open longer on game days for all of your walk up ticketing needs. Adult tickets are $8, Children are $4, Children aged three and under are free, and UC Students can obtain a free ticket with their valid student ID card at the box office.

Follow Along: Live video and stats for all UC Home Games are available at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/. In addition, radio coverage of home games is available on WPNR 90.7 FM and PioneerRadio.org. Sports Information Assistant Ray Biggs '13 brings fans the play-by-play, and will be joined by UC student Mark Mitchell on Friday night. Fans can also view home games on the free Empire 8 apps available for Roku, Amazon Fire, and AppleTV.

Last Time Out: In their last weekend of action on December 7th and 8th, the Pioneers were able to get past a pair of UCHC opponents on the road in the Keystone State to run their active conference win streak to four games. On Friday, December 7th, the Pioneers needed some last second heroics to derail a very strong first year team from Wilkes University as they went on to win by a 2-1 score. Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)) scored both goals in the game for Utica, including the deciding goal with just four seconds remaining on the clock to hoist Utica to the victory. Gregg Burmaster (Clinton, NY/Colorado College (NCHC)) and Joey Rutkowski (Rome, NY/Smiths Falls Bears (CCHL)) each added two assists on Cavanagh's goals. The Pioneers got both of their goals from their power play unit. On Saturday, December 8th, the Pioneers faced a stingy goaltending effort from King's College netminder Brandon Daigle, but were able to overcome a 54 save effort with three goals and a shutout from goaltender Sean Dickson (Millbrae, CA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL-Premier)) in a 3-0 triumph over the Monarchs. Burmaster scored twice for Utica in the game, and Brett Everson (Mississauga, Ontario/Hawkesbury (CCHL)) put up a goal and two assists to set the pace for the Pioneers. Dickson stopped 11 shots for his second career clean sheet.

In The Last Home Weekend: Utica earned a conference sweep over UCHC foes Stevenson and Chatham on November 30th and January 1st. In a Friday win over Stevenson, Utica broke a 1-1 tie with six unanswered goals as they rolled on to a 7-1 victory over the Mustangs. Defenseman Zach Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Gloucester (CCHL)) led the Pioneers with a goal and three assists, and forward Josh Haskin (Troy, NY/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders (USPHL)) had a goal and two assists. On Saturday, Utica broke open a scoreless first with five straight goals to cruise past Chatham in the 14th annual New York Sash Teddy Bear Toss. Jamie Bucell (Garfield Heights, OH/Philadelphia (EHL)) scored the Teddy Bear Toss goal with a shorthanded score at 1:47 of the second period, and Dan Fritz, Brett Everson (Mississauga, Ontario/Hawkesbury (CCHL)), Shawn Lynch (Syracuse, NY/Ottawa Jr. Senators (CCHL)), and Gregg Burmaster (Clinton, NY/Colorado College (NCHC)) scored goals to polish off the score as Sean Dickson (Millbrae, CA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL-Premier)) collected his first career shutout.

Where We Stand: Utica is now 8-5, and 7-2 in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference, and hold outright possession of first place in the standings at the break with 21 points. They hold a three point advantage on a three-way tie for second place. The Pioneers have won four straight games, and five of their last six overall appearances. The lone loss in that stretch came against No. 1 UW-Stevens Point, who is unbeaten in thirteen games this year.

At Home: Utica is 4-2 in their first six home games of the regular season, and have won their last four home outings since being swept by current No. 3 Adrian to open the season. The Pioneers have outscored their opponents 28-9 in all home games, and 25-3 in four home conference games. Utica will have six home games remaining after Friday's game.

In The Polls: Utica was unranked at the break but received eight votes in the D3hockey.com Men's Top 15, and six votes in the USCHO.com Men's Division III Poll.

Top Of The Heap: Utica leads the nation in home attendance at this point in the season with 3.472 fans per game. The Pioneers are currently averaging 86.8 percent of their seating capacity for the season, a figure which is second in Division III behind Adrian, whose rink seats a mere 500 fans.

The All-Time Series: This will be the fourth all-time meeting between Utica and Skidmore. Despite the fact that the schools are under two hours apart, the Pioneers and Thoroughbreds have not met on the ice since 2004. The game Friday will be almost exactly 15 years to the day of their last meeting on January 3rd, 2004. The Pioneers won that game 6-1 behind three point evenings from Justin Schachtler and Jon Ames. 2003's 4-3 win saw Utica's Jimmy Sokol net the game-winning goal with just under three minutes left, and a Derek Ward hat trick powered Utica to a 4-2 win in January of 2002 in the inaugural season of UC Hockey.

Captain? Captain: Senior forward and captain Gregg Burmaster (Clinton, NY/Colorado College (NCHC)) has been on quite the tear as of late for the Pioneers, and leads the team is total points this season. The second year Pioneer has recorded a point in each of his last six games, a streak that dates back to November 23rd against St. Thomas. In his six game point streak, Burmaster has recorded four goals and eight assists for twelve points, and he has had a multi-point outing in each of his last three games. Burmaster leads the team in total points, and also has a team leading eight goals to go with nine assists. His average of 1.31 points per game is tied for 34th in the country. He is also 40th in the nation in goals per game.

They're on the List: Utica has three of its next four top scorers behind Burmaster standing in the top 100 in points per game nationally. Brett Everson (Mississauga, Ontario/Hawkesbury (CCHL)) is second on the team with fourteen points on three goals and eleven assists, and stands in a tie for 77th nationally in points per game. Defenseman Zach Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Gloucester (CCHL)) is third on the team with thirteen points on four goals and nine assists in thirteen games, and he ranks in a tie for 86th at a point per game alongside UC's fifth-leading scorer, Josh Haskin (Troy, NY/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders (USPHL)), who has twelve points on two goals and ten assists in twelve games and is 36th in the nation in assists per game.

Dish, Dish, Dish: With his team-best 11 assists, sophomore forward Brett Everson (Mississauga, Ontario/Hawkesbury (CCHL)) ranks 33rd in the nation at 0.85 assists per game.

New Kid On The Block: Freshman forward Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)) has found a way to fit right into the fold for the Pioneers as the team's fourth highest point-getter in his first season. Cavanagh has scored eight goals to tie himself for the team lead, and has also added four assists to total twelve points. He is tied for 40th in the nation in goals per game, and is 18th in the nation among freshmen in points per game. 11 of his 12 points have come in conference play.

From The Blue Line: Senior defenseman Zach Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Gloucester (CCHL)) is tied for fifteenth in the nation among defensemen in scoring per game, where he's been averaging a point per contest this season. He has a goal and six assists in Utica's recent four game winning streak, and was named UCHC Player of the Week and to the D3Hockey.com Team of the Week on December 4th.

In Goal: While due in part to some unexpected early season changes at the goaltender position, The Pioneers have observed a nearly even split for time in goal between Sean Dickson (Millbrae, CA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL-Premier)) and Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) this season. Dickson has played just over 50 percent of the minutes in eight games, and is 4-2 with a 1.79 goals against average and a 93.3 percent save percentage with two shutouts to start off his career.  Baggetta is 4-3 in seven games played with a save percentage of 93.1 percent and a goals against average of 2.11.

For Those Keeping Score At Home: Utica stands tied for thirteenth in the nation in scoring offense at 3.85 goals per game this season. The team they swept in their exhibition weekend, Endicott, currently leads the nation in that category after the Pioneers held them to just one goal in two games. The Pioneers have also seen a sharp improvement in scoring defense towards the latter portions of the first half of the season, and they now sit 12th at 2.08 goals against per game.

Special Teams Trending Up: Utica's power play is currently running at a 14.7 percent success rate, while the team's penalty kill has improved into the top 30 nationally at 83.9 percent. The Pioneers have allowed just one power play goal in their last four games, and have converted five of their last 22 power plays.
 

Second Period Separation: This year, the Pioneers have outscored opponents by the thinnest of margins in the first period. They lead opponents 14-13 through 20 minutes of play, and have been even or trailing nine times in thirteen games after the first period. However, Utica has had no issue grabbing control in the second period, where they have dominated opponents by a 19-4 margin.

About Skidmore: The Thoroughbreds are 8-5-1 this season, and 4-3-1 in the New England Hockey Conference. They are coached by Rob Hutchison, who has tremendously strong local ties to the Utica area. Hutchison grew up in Waterville and played youth hockey at the Clinton Arena before going on to star for Hamilton Central School in high school hockey. Skidmore is led by sophomore Matt Muzyka, who has built on a tremendous freshman season with eighteen points on nine goals and nine assists. Starting goaltender Brandon Kasel has experience playing at the Aud after appearing in the arena in 2014 in the New York State high school hockey final four with Ithaca High School. He has a record of 5-4-0 in his junior season with a goals against average of 2.57. Skidmore has been especially good at killing penalties and has done so at an 87.1 percent clip this season.

Up Next: The Pioneers will begin a three game road trip next Friday, January 11th, as they take on nationally ranked Oswego State at the Campus Center Ice Arena in Oswego.