RYE, NY - In Friday's rematch of last year's United Collegiate Hockey Conference Championship series, the No. 14 Utica College men's ice hockey team got huge contributions from freshman players who were not even on the team at the time of last year's title meeting.

Freshman forward Brandon Osmundson (Chesapeake, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) had a natural hat trick with three goals in just his second career game, and classmate Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)) scored his first collegiate goal. The effort by the newcomers fueled Utica out of a 2-1 deficit with four unanswered goals as they topped No. 10 Manhattanville by a 5-2 score at the Rye Playland Ice Casino. The game was the United Collegiate Hockey Conference opener for both squads.

Utica improves to a record of 1-0-1, and are 1-0 in UCHC play.

Utica outshot the Valiants 28-23 in the game, and went 1-for-5 on the power play while holding their hosts to an 0-for-5 clip. Tyler Pietrowski (Curtice, OH/Odessa Jackalopes (NAHL)) had one goal in the game, while top line centerman Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) tallied three assists. Defenseman Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) finished with two assists and has pointed in seven consecutive games. Transfer student Kasper Kjellkvist (Vaxjo, Sweden/Curry College (Commonwealth Coast Conf.)) had two assists for his first points with Utica. Jacob Cuffley (Kanata, ON/Smiths Falls Bears (CCHL)) and Buster Larsson (Bunkeflostrand, Sweden/Syracuse Stars (NCDC)) each had one assist for their first collegiate points. Donovan Ott (Lebanon, PA/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (ECAC Hockey)) also had an assist and has a point in both games he's played in at Utica.

Senior goaltender Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) improved to 1-0-1 for the campaign with a 21 save performance. Freshman goaltender Alexei Masanko took the loss for Manhattanville with 23 saves.

The Pioneers got the better of a tightly played opening period as they landed the lid-lifting goal while keeping the opposition almost entirely in check. The Pioneers capped the Valiants at just four shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, despite early penalty trouble with three power plays awarded to Manhattanville in the first period. With the Pioneers covering the small ice at the Ice Casino better than their opponents, Tyler Pietrowski (Curtice, OH/Odessa Jackalopes (NAHL)) took care of the rest. A deep point shot from the right side by freshman defenseman Jacob Cuffley (Kanata, ON/Smiths Falls Bears (CCHL)) rebounded out to Pietrowski, and the veteran forward thrusted the puck behind Valiant netminder Alexei Masenko for a 1-0 lead that stood through the end of the period. The goal was Pietrowski's second in as many games, and he has a goal in three of his last four non-preseason games dating back to last season's UCHC Championship series. Dan Fritz had the second assist on Utica's first goal.

The host Valiants countered back with a pair of goals in the second period to jump into the drivers' seat. With 14:53 left in the middle frame, Alex Rowella slipped an accurate pass in the Utica zone to Jarrod Lavallee to create a small area breakaway, and the Manhattanville sophomore deked his way past Baggetta for the tying goal. The Valiants struck again with 9:24 left in the period when Kyle Miller fed the puck to the right post to Ken McLean, who tipped it over the pads of Baggetta for a 2-1 advantage favoring the hosts.

The Pioneers offered up a swift reply to retake the lead before the second period came to a close. At 5:58, Buster Larsson (Bunkeflostrand, Sweden/Syracuse Stars (NCDC)) won the puck out of a corner scrum and slid it back to Donovan Ott (Lebanon, PA/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (ECAC Hockey)). Ott peeled off the left wing boards to the center point, and fired a hard shot that was tipped by freshman Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)) for his first career collegiate goal. Larsson got his first college point with one of the two assists credited on the goal that brought the score back level.

With one freshman scoring the game-tying goal, the Pioneers looked to another freshman and his persistence on special teams to take the lead back into their hands before the end of the second period. A penalty on Manhattanville's Tristan Ramage put the Pioneers on the man advantage in the late stages of the second period as he was booked for hooking at 15:38. On the ensuing 5-on-4 power play stretch, freshman Brandon Osmundson (Chesapeake, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) was set up for an excellent opportunity at the circles, but his hard shot ended up hitting the post. With help from a second Valiant penalty that gave Utica a 5-on-3, the freshman would not be denied. Osmundson didn't miss on his second chance of the extended power play as he bolted his first career regular season goal into the back of the net with 2:29 to go in the second period, and Utica took a 3-2 lead into the third. Utica outshot Manhattanville 11-7 in the middle frame. Landrigan and Kjellkvist had the assists on what stood as the eventual game-winner.

Osmundson wasted no time in scoring a second career goal to double the Utica lead. The rookie connected with the nylon a second time just 18 seconds into the third period for a 4-2 advantage. Landrigan and Kjellkvist assisted Osmundson again on the tally. Fueled by a five minute power play, the Pioneers kept the heat on their hosts for much of the third period. Utica had numerous opportunities to extend their lead, including two breakaway chances just seconds apart, but a larger lead would wait until the final minute. Manhattanville pulled Masanko for the extra attacker, and Osmundson took advantage as he scored on the empty net from center ice to complete a natural hat trick and drive the final nail into a huge 5-2 conference win.

The Pioneers will head to Philadelphia on Saturday for a UCHC game against Neumann University in Aston, Pennsylvania. The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start time.