UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's ice hockey team returns to home ice on the heels of a three-game road trip this weekend at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. On Friday, the Pioneers look to avenge an earlier loss as they host UCHC rival Nazareth. On Saturday, Utica seeks its second straight win over non-conference foe SUNY Cortland. Puck drop for both games is 7 p.m.

Alion Science and Technology Night: Friday's game is presented by Alion Science and Technology. The firm designs and builds various military technologies for use by the United States Department of Defense, and has an office located in Rome, NY. Learn more about Alion at https://www.alionscience.com/

Indium Night:  Saturday's game is sponsored by Indium Corporation at the Aud as the Pioneers welcome to the game several employees, families and friends of Indium Corporation. Indium 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.

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 and Ryan Van Laere this weekend. Fans can also view home games on the free Empire 8 apps available for Roku, Amazon Fire, and AppleTV.

Where We Stand: The Pioneers are now 10-6-1, and hold a 6-1-1 record in their last eight games. They are 8-3-0 and in second place in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference. With a conference split over the weekend, the Pioneers relinquished their UCHC lead to conference newcomer Wilkes with Friday night's loss, then re-tied for the top spot in the standings at 24 points on Saturday with Wilkes idle due to the prominent weather conditions that gripped the region. Wilkes has since re-gained the lead by picking up two points in the conference 3-on-3 overtime session in a tie against Elmira on Monday afternoon. 

On The Road Trip: Utica went 1-1-1 on the trip, which included a 3-3 tie at No. 5 Oswego, a win at Manhattanville, and a loss at Neumann. Utica's last home game was on January 4th against Skidmore.

Not The Friday Knight We're Looking For: The Pioneers rallied out of a 3-1 deficit with a pair of goals in the third period to tie the game, including the equalizer by Joey Savel (Sterling Heights, MI/Philadelphia Little Flyers (EHL)) with just under two minutes left, but Neumann's Tom Mansbridge scored with 15 seconds to go to propel the hosts by a 4-3 score. Savel had two goals for Utica while Zach Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Gloucester (CCHL)) added a goal and an assist. Utica fired 39 shots on goal in the game, but 36 were turned aside by Neumann goaltender Mike Cosentino as the transfer student earned the win in net. Freshman Sean Dickson (Millbrae, CA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL-Premier)) stopped just 29 of 33 shots on goal in his first start since December 8th. The Pioneers controlled faceoffs 39-28, led by an 11-7 effort by Shawn Lynch (Syracuse, NY/Ottawa Jr. Senators (CCHL)). The Utica power play went 1-for-5. Utica has lost its last two appearances in Aston, Pa.

Deuces Wild: On Saturday, the Pioneers earned an important split on the road weekend as they rode a four-goal second period dousing of Manhattanville to a 6-2 win at the Rye Playland Ice Casino in UCHC play. The Pioneers built a 5-0 lead through two periods, and held off a two goal third period comeback attempt as they went on to win.  Utica's defensemen made some of the biggest offensive plays in the game. Sophomore Vaden McManus (Fayetteville, NC/Hampton Roads (USPHL)) scored the first regular season goal of his career on a shorthanded goal in the second period, and Brandon Young (Muskegon, MI/Johnstown (NAHL)) scored twice including the game-winning goal and an empty net goal that dashed all further hopes for the hosts of coming back in the matchup. The Utica penalty kill turned in a strong performance, holding the Valiant power play to just one goal in six appearances. They kept Manhattanville off the board on a key 5-on-3 late in the first period where Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) excelled while backstopping that unit out of harm's way. The Valiants rode their six power play chances to a 42-32 shots on goal advantage, and the Pioneers scored on their lone power play chance on a Dan Fritz goal to lift the lid on the scoring in the first period. The Pioneers ended up at a plus-two on the special teams for the game. Baggetta made 40 saves in the game and had a shutout going into the third period. Utica has now won nine consecutive meetings against the Valiants dating back to Fall of 2015.

The Series Against Nazareth: Friday will be the 20th all-time meeting between Utica and Nazareth. The Pioneers currently lead that series with wins in nearly half of the eighteen meetings at 9-5-5. Gary Heenan's career record against Nazareth head coach George Roll stands at 9-6-5, with Roll grabbing an additional win during the last season of his tenure at Oswego during the 2002-03 season.

The Series Against Cortland: Utica and Cortland have split their last two meetings in the all-time series. The Pioneers won the most recent meeting in the Fall of 2017 by a 3-2 score on opening weekend at Cortland's Alumni Arena. Justin Derlago (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Selkirk (MJHL)) scored the game-winning goal, Josh Haskin (Troy, NY/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders (USPHL)) recorded his first college point with an assist, and Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) made 22 saves for his first career victory in the Pioneer net in just his second career start. In the 2016-17 season, Cortland met Utica at the Aud and grabbed an instantaneous lead on a goal by future professional player Darren McCormick just seven seconds into the game for one of the fastest goals to start in Division III history. Utica never quite recovered from the early shock as the Red Dragons won 4-2.

Against the SUNYAC: Utica is 4-0-2 in its last six games against teams from the SUNYAC. The Pioneers have scored wins against Morrisville, Potsdam, Fredonia, and Cortland in that time, and have tied Oswego twice.

At Home: Utica is 5-2 at home and has not lost a game at the Aud since late October against Adrian. The Pioneers are also 4-0 in home conference games so far this season. The Pioneers have outscored the opposition at home 33-10 overall, and an incredible 25-3 in conference play. Utica's last home conference game was a 5-0 shutout win over Chatham on December 1st.

Nope, Not Happening: The Pioneers are just outside the top ten nationally in scoring defense in thirteenth at an average of 2.18 goals allowed per game. Utica has allowed three goals or less in all ten of their wins, and have held opponents to a goal or less in eight of their ten victories this season.

Let's Get This Bread: Utica sports a top ten scoring offense nationally at 3.94 goals per game. The Pioneers have scored three goals or more in seven of their last eight games, and Friday marked just the second time this season Utica has lost when scoring three goals.

Century Club: Senior defenseman Zach Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Gloucester (CCHL)) leads the team in career games played with 98, and has missed just one game in his entire career, which came during his freshman season. If he plays in both games this weekend, he will reach the century mark in games played. In addition, if he plays in all six games remaining in the regular season after this weekend, he would be just two games back of a school record 108 games played, where he could accomplish a tie with two playoff game appearances. Borsoi has 52 career points and leads all Pioneer rearguards this season with fifteen points on five goals and ten assists. After Saturday's win, Borsoi is now 9-1 in his career in ten appearances against Manhattanville, and has been a part of nine straight wins.

Gregg Gets It Going: After capping last season with UCHC Tournament MVP honors, senior forward and captain Gregg Burmaster (Clinton, NY/Colorado College (NCHC)) has carried his performance forward into this season and is on his way to a career season in all likelihood to cap off his college career. He has a team-high 21 points on eight goals and a team-best thirteen assists. He needs five more total points to match his junior year total of 26. He is 35th in the nation at an average of 1.24 points per game, which is tied for eighth among UCHC skaters. He is also 35th in the country in assists per game. Burmaster played in his 75th career collegiate game this past weekend in a continuing career that began at Division I Colorado College.

Brett The Jet: Sophomore forward Brett Everson (Mississauga, Ontario/Hawkesbury (CCHL)) has rounded into quite the playmaker to begin the second half of the season. He has four goals and twelve assists for sixteen points to rank second on the squad. Everson is at a +11 rating in his last eight games.

Here's Joey: After spending months on the shelf due to a preseason injury, highly touted freshman forward Joey Savel (Sterling Heights, MI/Philadelphia Little Flyers (EHL)) had about as good of a debut weekend as one could possibly draw up. Savel scored two goals in his college debut including the game-tying goal in the third period of Friday's loss. He added his first career assist on Saturday as the Pioneers topped Manhattanville. Savel had an Eastern Hockey League record 96 points last season.

Philadelphia Freedom: In Friday's game at Neumann, five different Pioneers who played for a Philadelphia-area team at some point in their junior hockey career had at least one point. Savel, Tyler Pietrowski (Curtice, OH/Odessa Jackalopes (NAHL)), Landrigan, Cameron Bartkoski (Dallas, TX/Amarillo Bulls (NAHL)), and Jamie Bucell (Garfield Heights, OH/Philadelphia (EHL)) all played in the City of Brotherly Love at some point in their pre-college careers. Four of the five made a return to their former home rink in the contest, as all of the listed players except for Landrigan played for the Philadelphia Little Flyers.

Salt City Swagger: Senior forward Shawn Lynch (Syracuse, NY/Ottawa Jr. Senators (CCHL)) continues to produce effectively on a line with Brett Everson (Mississauga, Ontario/Hawkesbury (CCHL)) and Gregg Burmaster (Clinton, NY/Colorado College (NCHC)). The native of Camillus has points in four of his last five games, and is having by far the best statistical season in his four years with Utica. He has 12 points on three goals and nine assists.

Special Teams Smatterings: Utica's power play is currently at 15.2 percent for the season with 12 goals in 79 appearances. They were 2-for-6 over the weekend and are 2-for-11 through four games to begin 2019. Utica's penalty kill is 23rd in the nation at 85.5 percent, and the Pioneers killed off the first 11 opposing opportunities of 2019 before Neumann's power play scored in the second period of Friday's game.

Starting Nod: The Pioneers will likely turn to veteran starter Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) on Friday night against Nazareth. The junior is 6-3-1 in ten starts this season with one shutout, and has won his last three UCHC starts. His 93.2 percent save percentage is thirteenth in the nation, and his goals allowed average of 2.05 ranks nineteenth in the nation.

About Nazareth: The Golden Flyers are 8-4-5 on the season and are fourth in the UCHC under head coach George Roll. They allow just 2.35 goals against per game, which stands 21st in the country. They most recently tied Manhattanville 3-3 on Friday, and lost out on the extra standings point to the Valiants in the conference 3v3 session following the standard overtime. Jacob Paluch, Casey Kubara, and James McDonald scored for the Golden Flyers. They also hold a 5-1 win over Saturday's opponent, Cortland, in a game where Brian Miller had a hat trick on his way to UCHC Player of the Week honors. Miller scored three of the first four goals in the game, with Skaneateles native and former New York State High School Hockey all-state pick Ray Falso scoring the other. David Powlowski is the team's top scorer with 17 total points on seven goals and ten assists. Sean Kuhn has gotten most of the playing time in goal over incumbent starter Michael Tilford, and Kuhn is 3-2-3 with a 2.17 goals against average for Nazareth.

About Cortland: The Red Dragons are 8-10, and 2-8 in the SUNYAC under head coach Joe Cardarelli, a Utica native whose mother, Joanne, was a Utica College alumna from the Class of 1966. Alex Storjohann leads Cortland with seven goals this season, and a team high thirteen assists has Mike Crowley in the team lead in total points with fifteen. Storjohann has three power play goals for a unit that is converting close to 20 percent, and both sides of the Red Dragon special teams are solid as Cortland kills penalties at an 86.4 percent rate. Nick Modica is 7-7 in fifteen starts with a 2.77 goals against average. They are coming off of a 2-0 win against Hamilton College.

Up Next: The Pioneers continue on a four game homestand as they host Lebanon Valley and Elmira next Friday and Saturday at the Aud. Puck drop for both games is  7 p.m.