UTICA, NY - The No. 14 Utica College men's hockey team will play on the road for the first time in the 2019-2020 season as it kicks off United Collegiate Hockey Conference play this weekend. The schedule has pointed Utica in the direction of one of the nation's biggest early season games on Friday as the fourteenth-ranked Pioneers will take on No. 10 Manhattanville in a rematch of the 2019 UCHC Championship series at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Utica looks to avenge its most recent regular season defeat the Pioneers meet Neumann University in an afternoon game starting at 4 p.m.

Follow Along: Fans can watch Friday's game at https://govaliants.com/watch, with live stats available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/manhattanville/mhockey/. Saturday's game is available to watch at https://atlanticeastnetwork.com/neumann/, with live stats available at https://www.neumannathletics.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary

Where We Stand: The Pioneers are 0-0-1 in the regular season so far after Saturday's 3-3 tie with Canton. Utica split its two preseason games with a 7-1 dousing of Morrisville, followed by a 4-2 loss to the University of New England. The Pioneers check in at No. 14 and are tied with Curry in the latest USCHO Men's Top 15. Utica is unbeaten in its last ten regular season games dating back to January.

Let The Games Begin: Friday marks the first full slate of conference games. Lebanon Valley will take on Wilkes, Elmira will be at King's, Nazareth will be at Neumann, and Stevenson will meet up with Chatham.

We'll Be Back: The Pioneers' next home game will be on Friday, November 15th as Utica hosts Nazareth College in a UCHC game. The contest kicks off a five game homestand for the squad that includes games with Lebanon Valley, Elmira, Plymouth State, and either Salve Regina or Oswego State.

Against The Valiants: This will be the 53rd All-Time meeting between the Pioneers and the Valiants in the history of the programs. Utica now holds a slight edge in the series at 24-23-5 in a matchup that dates back to January 11th, 2002. The Pioneers recently took the edge in the series with a long string of victories, after strong Manhattanville teams coached by Keith Levinthal won consistently in the early years. The Valiants were 7-0-2 in the first nine meetings before the Pioneers landed their first win on March 3rd, 2006 by a 5-3 score. Utica began to get some staying power in the all-time series in the 2010-11 season when they swept Manhattanville in the season series. Utica was unbeaten against the Valiants again in the 2012-13 regular season before Manhattanville won the playoff meeting between the two teams. Utica's season would ultimately continue on to the national semifinals that year. That playoff loss was also the turning point where the Pioneers began a recent run of relative dominance over their longtime rivals. Since that playoff loss in 2013, Utica has won sixteen of the last nineteen meetings, including ten in a row from February 2016 to March 2019. That streak ended with a game two loss in the UCHC finals that forced the decisive minigame that Manhattanville won to claim the conference tournament title and the bid into the NCAA Tournament. The series is tied at 12-12-2 when the game has been played at the Playland Ice Casino, or alternate venue Terry Conners Rink in Stamford, Connecticut. Utica's largest margin of victory was a 7-1 win back in 2018 at the tail end of the regular season.

Against the Knights: Utica is 7-2-1 in its last ten meetings with the Knights in a series that also dates back to the 2001-2002 season. The Pioneers and Neumann have split the last four meetings at two games apiece with Utica winning the last two at the Aud, and Neumann winning the last two at Ice Works in Aston, Pennsylvania.

On The Road Again: Utica is 14-8-1 in the last two years in games played away from the Aud. The Pioneers have scored 82 goals and have allowed just 53 in the last two seasons in road games. The Pioneers were 7-4-1 when playing an away or neutral site game last season.

In Conference Play: Utica was 14-3-1 in conference play last season as they topped the UCHC standings for a second consecutive year, and won their third straight conference regular season title. Utica is 38-9-1 in the last three seasons on their way to those three consecutive first place finishes. In the UCHC era, they are 26-7-1 in regular season conference play and have outscored league opponents 164-63 in the regular season over the two seasons of the conference's existence. The Pioneers scored 85 goals in UCHC play last year, and averaged 4.72 goals per game. They allowed just 1.61 goals per conference contest. Utica led the conference in scoring offense and defense in league games last year. They also had the best penalty kill in conference play at 90.5 percent. They allowed just eight power play goals in eighteen UCHC games.

Recapping the Opener: In their 2019-20 regular season opener, Utica swapped the lead with SUNY Canton on three different occasions before the Pioneers and Roos settled on a 3-3 tie on Saturday, November 2nd at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The Pioneers outshot the Roos 19-6 in the first period, but that didn't stop Canton from drawing first blood as Oswego transfer Tyson Bruce scored on the power play at 11:29 of the first period. Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) delivered on a chance to equalize the period in the stanza's final minute, as he scored his first of the season on a power play strike to pull Utica onto level terms. The Pioneers assumed the lead on another power play goal in the second period as Brandon Osmundson (Chesapeake, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) delivered a tremendous pass to junior Tyler Pietrowski (Curtice, OH/Odessa Jackalopes (NAHL)) for Pietrowski's first of the year, and the Pioneers led 2-1 after two periods. The tide turned back into Canton's favor in the third, when the Roos scored twice in just over three minutes to snag a 3-2 lead. Transfer student Donovan Ott (Lebanon, PA/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (ECAC Hockey)) staved off defeat at 13:20 of the third period with the equalizing goal, and neither team gave an inch the rest of the way as the two teams ended their meeting in an overtime draw. Both teams scored twice on the power play. The Pioneers outshot the Roos 48-27 in the game, with Canton goaltender Michael Cerasuolo making 45 saves. Baggetta turned away 24 shots including a last ditch attempt to win the game in overtime by the Kangaroos on a well-executed faceoff set play. Osmundson had two assists in his first college regular season game, while Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)) and John Moncovich (Wilmington, NC/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) also had their first college regular season points. Utica dominated faceoffs with a 39-19 advantage.

Last Time Against Neumann: The Pioneers lost 4-3 to Neumann on January 18th, 2019 at the IceWorks Complex in Aston, Pennsylvania. It was Utica's most recent regular season defeat, as the Pioneers have won or tied in ten regular season games since. Utica was behind 3-1 after two periods, only to come racing back into the game with two goals to tie the score in the third period. Neumann would break up the rally with just 15 seconds left on a go-ahead goal by Thomas Mansbridge, and the Knights prevailed by a single goal. Joey Savel (Sterling Heights, MI/Philadelphia Little Flyers (EHL)) had two goals, while Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) had two assists. Zach Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Gloucester (CCHL)) finished the night with a goal and an assist. Sean Dickson (Millbrae, CA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL-Premier)) made 29 saves.

Last Time Against Manhattanville: Utica erased a 3-2 third period deficit on an extra attacker goal by Shawn Lynch (Syracuse, NY/Ottawa Jr. Senators (CCHL)), but Manhattanville scored with less than ten seconds to go to tie the UCHC Championship series at one game apiece by a 4-3 score. Brandon Young (Muskegon, MI/Johnstown (NAHL)), Shawn Lynch (Syracuse, NY/Ottawa Jr. Senators (CCHL)), and Gregg Burmaster (Clinton, NY/Colorado College (NCHC)) scored the goals for Utica. Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) made 29 saves. 

Danny Dimes: Senior defenseman Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) is the team's leading returning scorer with 26 points on 4 goals and 22 assists last season. He is already off to a strong start to his senior season with a goal and an assist in the season opener. Fritz has a point in six straight games, and in nine of the team's last ten regular season and postseason games going back to last season.

Return of the Captain: After being unavailable for the season opener, senior captain Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) will be back in the lineup for the Pioneers on Friday. The team captain brings a lot of strong facets to his game that will help Utica on the undersized ice surface they'll encounter on Friday. Fitzpatrick drew a team-best 12 penalties last season, and also levied a squad best 67 hits, both of which will pair well with a physical game. He also caused opponents to turn the puck over 34 times and had a rating of +9. Fitzpatrick had six goals and five assists for eleven points last year, and he has 35 career points in three years with Utica.
 

New Blood: Of Utica's nine total points on Saturday, five of them came from players who were not on Utica's roster last season. Brandon Osmundson (Chesapeake, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)), Donovan Ott (Lebanon, PA/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (ECAC Hockey)), John Moncovich (Wilmington, NC/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)), and Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)) all had their first points at Utica this weekend. Zapata also was among the team's best at the faceoff dot as he went 6-of-7 on draws for the afternoon.

The Big 5-0: Junior forward and assistant captain Josh Haskin (Troy, NY/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders (USPHL)) played his 50th career game against Canton. He has 7 goals and 20 assists in just over two seasons with the team.

Gianluca The Great: Senior goaltender Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) made the 30th start of his career on Saturday night. In his 30 starts, he has 22 career wins and needs just four more to surpass his predecessor in the starting goaltender job for third-most in school history behind only assistant coaches Adam Dekker and Nick Therrien. He has a career goals allowed average of 1.78, and a save percentage of 93.5 percent. He is Utica's current career leader in both categories among eligible goaltenders with a minimum of 150 saves and 900 minutes played. If he holds on his current track, he would have the fifth best career save percentage, and fourteenth best goals allowed average among eligible goaltenders in Division III history.

Scouting Manhattanville: The Valiants are 1-0-1 and have moved up to tenth in the latest USCHO Poll following their performance at Buffalo State. Despite operating with a significantly younger lineup, the Valiants downed the host Bengals 5-2 before tying nationally ranked Adrian 3-3. Alex Rowella was named the UCHC Player of the Week after two goals and two assists over the weekend. Mac Vail and UCHC Rookie of the Week Alexei Masanko split time in goal. The Valiants are missing numerous key pieces from their 2018-19 lineup including UCHC Co-Player of the Year Matt Lippa, forward Eric Berglund, and defensemen Marco Ferraro and Oscar Arfelt.

Scouting Neumann: The Knights will make their season debut this weekend after posting a 6-15-4 record a season ago. Junior defenseman Richie Brusco and junior forward Zac Boyle both had over 20 points last season and are Neumann's leading returning scorers. Grant Universal led the team with 62 penalty minutes. Mike Cosentino returns as the team's starting goaltender.

What's Next: Utica will host Nazareth in a UCHC matchup on Friday, November 15th at 7 p.m.