Owings Mills, Md - The Utica College men's hockey team ran its unbeaten streak to seven consecutive games and nabbed sole possession of first place in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference on Saturday. Senior forward Gregg Burmaster (Clinton, NY/Colorado College (NCHC)) recorded his first collegiate hat trick and added an assist as the Pioneers rolled past host Stevenson University by a 5-2 score at the Reisterstown Sportsplex.

The win, coupled with other UCHC results, gives Utica the inside track to the United Collegiate Hockey Conference regular season title. Wilkes University was tied with Utica atop the standings at the start of the day's action, but fell to Manhattanville on Saturday afternoon. Utica holds a three point lead on the second place Colonels and could cement the top seed as early as Friday against King's College with a win that evening. A win on Friday would give Utica a tiebreaker advantage on all other teams still in contention regardless of Saturday's result.

Utica improves to 15-6-2, and 12-3-1 in the UCHC. They are now 11-1-2 in their last fourteen games, a span that began with a win over Stevenson in the team's home leg of the season series by a 7-1 score on November 30th. The season sweep improves Utica's record in the all-time series against Stevenson to 6-0, and they have outscored the Mustangs 29-10 over those contests.

Burmaster's hat trick was the first by a Pioneer since exactly one year ago in the same location. 2018 All-American forward Roman Ammirato (Williamstown, NJ/Union College (ECAC)) also had a hat trick on February 9th, 2018 at Stevenson at the tail end of his senior campaign. Burmaster finished the weekend with five goals and two assists for seven points. Senior classmate Shawn Lynch (Syracuse, NY/Ottawa Jr. Senators (CCHL)) had another huge game for Utica with a goal and two assists, and defenseman Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) assisted on four of Utica's five goals. Goaltender Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) made 31 saves on 33 shots and is now unbeaten in his last 11 goaltending decisions dating back to his last loss against still-undefeated No. 1 UW-Stevens Point on November 24th.

The Pioneers had the engine of their offense revving off the opening puck drop, and it paid dividends as the Pioneers nabbed the first goal in a third consecutive road game. Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) delivered the goods with his fifth goal of the season at 4:08 of the first period with Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) and Josh Haskin (Troy, NY/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders (USPHL)) getting the assists. A slashing minor to Stevenson's Mark Bowen 36 seconds later helped the Pioneers continue that momentum, and Burmaster also ensured that Utica got results on the scoreboard out of the ensuing power play. The senior puffed the net for the third time this weekend with less than a minute elapsed in the power play at 5:25 of the first period.

Amidst tremendous early pressure by the Pioneers, the Mustangs found a way to turn the period around to even the score. Stevenson defenseman Aaron Murray led the charge by assisting on a goal by Ryan Patrick, and later scored a goal of his own to pull Stevenson even at the end of one period of action. Utica peppered Mustang goaltender Riley McVeigh with fourteen shots in the opening frame.

After the Mustangs pulled even, the Pioneers turned to their senior leader to take the lead for good in the second period. Burmaster ripped his first of two second period goals to the twine at 4:23, a goal that later stood as the game-winner. He added another to polish off the hat trick at 14:56. Lynch assisted on both goals for his senior classmate as Utica pulled back ahead by a 4-2 margin through forty minutes of action. Utica had to endure multiple Stevenson power plays, including a portion of a late 5-on-3 opportunity for the Mustangs, to maintain the lead going into the final frame.

The 5-on-3 chance spilled over into the third, and sparked a high pressure period for the Mustangs as they outshot Utica 14-7 while attempting to close the gap. Stevenson was aided by four additional power play chances, but the Utica penalty kill again stood tall with four successful kills and added an empty net shorthanded goal by Lynch assisted by Burmaster to put the score on ice at 5-2. Utica held the Mustangs to an 0-for-7 clip on the power play as they ran their penalty killing streak to a perfect run in 27 consecutive opposing opportunities.

The Pioneers are back at home on Friday as they meet King's College in a UCHC matchup at 7 p.m.