UTICA, NY - The No. 7 Utica College men's ice hockey team hunts a fifth straight victory, and a fifth win over a ranked opponent this season on Friday, January 10th. The Pioneers will trek to Oswego, NY for a matchup against the No. 15 Oswego State Lakers at the Marano Campus Center Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. 

Follow Along: Live stats will be made available through Oswego State Athletic Communications at http://www.sidearmstats.com/oswego/mhockey. Live video will be available through Oswego State Student Television station WTOP-10 at http://www.wtop10.com/live/. Live audio will also be available through Oswego radio station WNYO 88.9 FM, which can be heard at https://www.wnyo889.org/listen.

Where We Stand: Utica is 9-2-2 in its first thirteen games, and has won its last four. The team holds a record of 5-0-1 in non-conference games this year, and are 4-2-1 in UCHC Play. The Pioneers sit in fourth in the UCHC standings as of the break in conference play with thirteen league points.

In The Polls: UC ascended from eleventh to seventh in the latest edition of the US College Hockey Online Men's Top 15 released on Monday. The ranking is their best of the season. Oswego plummeted from tenth to fifteenth after getting swept over the past weekend. The Pioneers have enjoyed tremendous success against ranked opposition this season, as they are currently are 4-0 against teams to be ranked in the USCHO poll at the time they played against Utica. The team has defeated No. 12 Adrian twice, and also has defeated Manhattanville and current No. 8 Salve Regina. The United Collegiate Hockey Conference has also experienced a resurgence in the polls recently. Stevenson University made its first move into the rankings back in December, and now sits in tenth. Wilkes University made its debut as a ranked team in the USCHO Men's Top 15 this week in the fourteenth position. Utica starts off 2020 by playing four straight games against teams presently ranked in the USCHO Men's Top 15.

The Series: This will be the 26th all-time meeting between Utica and Oswego. Utica trails the all-time series with six wins, fourteen losses, and five ties. The teams have tied their last two meetings by 3-3 scores, and there have been five ties in the last eight meetings. The series began with a Pioneer win in the 2002-03 season and has featured numerous high profile clashes since. In 2006-07, the teams split the season series as Oswego went on to their only national title later that year. In 2012-13, UC swept the season series from the Lakers including winning by their largest margin in series history by a 6-0 score at home. Both teams would advance to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four weekend in Lake Placid at the end of that season. The 2014-15 season brought with it a special opportunity as the teams played to a 4-4 tie at the Carrier Dome in front of a Division III record crowd. The schools are separated by an approximately 90 minute drive and sport the two strongest average attendance figures in the nation. Utica is searching for its first win over Oswego since the 2012-13 season. 

Last Time Out: The team completed one of their most impressive non-conference sweeps in program history over this past weekend. UC took then-No. 7 Adrian to overtime on two separate occasions, and sophomore Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)) scored both game-winning goals in the extra session as Utica prevailed by a 7-6 score on Saturday, and by a 4-3 score on Sunday. On Saturday, the Pioneers rallied back from multiple deficits in a tumultuous game before taking the lead in a third period that featured eight combined goals. Adrian pulled back even with Utica on two occasions late in regulation to force overtime, including a span where UC re-took a 6-5 lead with under a minute left, only to have that lead vanish with seven seconds to go. The Pioneers had a potential goal disallowed as time expired, which gave rise to Cavanagh's overtime heroics at 1:51. Kasper Kjellkvist (Vaxjo, Sweden/Curry College (Commonwealth Coast Conf.)) scored two goals in the Saturday win. On Sunday, Utica bounced back from spotting the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead in the first 20:15 of the contest by scoring four unanswered goals in a 4-3 overtime victory. Tyler Dill (South Lake Tahoe, CA/Charlotte Rush (USPHL-Premier)), Cavanagh, and Buster Larsson (Bunkeflostrand, Sweden/Syracuse Stars (NCDC)) had goals to even the score by the end of the second period, and Cavanagh struck again at 1:07 of overtime to polish off the weekend sweep. UC outshot the Bulldogs 7-4 in the third period and overtime.

Same Place, Same Time: This will be the first and only matchup of the regular season between the two sides. The teams could have potentially met as participants in the Delta Hotels Thanksgiving Showcase tournament hosted by UC in November, but Utica won its first game, and Salve Regina topped the Lakers in the other semifinal to keep the two regional rivals separated until January. The Pioneers won the title with wins over Plymouth State and Salve Regina, and Oswego lost to Salve Regina to set up a matchup with Plymouth State.

A Look Into The Future: The Pioneers' start not only bodes well for their chances later this season, but also for years to come. Just two of the team's top ten scorers at this point in the campaign are seniors, with the other eight eligible to come back for the 2020-21 season.

We're Not In Kansas Anymore: Freshman forward Brandon Osmundson (Chesapeake, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) remains on pace to have the most productive season ever by a Utica rookie. He leads the team with 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points, and leads all freshmen nationally with 1.69 points per game. He is ninth in the nation overall in points per game. He had a goal and three assists in two games this past weekend against Adrian. At the halfway point of the season, he is on track to catch Ryan Webb's rookie points record at UC, set at 41 points back in the 2003-04 season. Webb averaged 1.57 points per game that season.

Fear The Beard: Senior defenseman Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) stands second on the squad with fourteen points on four goals and ten assists. Fritz has been resurgent lately after a sizzling start cooled off with a four game scoring drought in November. From the time the calendar turned to December, Fritz has been unstoppable with a five game point streak. He has a goal and seven assists in his last five games played. He is sixth nationally among defensemen at an average of 1.08 points per game. The senior is one of thirteen defensemen in Division III averaging a point a game or better this season. He has 57 career points to rank third in school history among defensemen. He needs six more to tie Zach Borsoi (Brossard, Quebec/Gloucester (CCHL)) for second.

Junior Journalings: The Pioneers are bolstered by the efforts of three juniors who are over ten points this season. Two of the three are transfer students who joined the roster in the Fall. Kasper Kjellkvist (Vaxjo, Sweden/Curry College (Commonwealth Coast Conf.)) transferred in from Curry College and has found a huge role in the attack with six goals and six assists for twelve points in his first thirteen games, including a two goal outing on Saturday in the 7-6 win over Adrian. Division I transfer Donovan Ott (Lebanon, PA/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (ECAC Hockey)) is now at eleven points on six goals and five assists. Both members of that transfer tandem are in the top 100 nationally in goals per game. Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) is the third piece of that triumvirate of juniors. He brings some explosive potential back to the lineup as he stands at ten points on two goals and eight assists, despite missing a swath of seven games due to injury. He returned to the lineup with a second period goal on Saturday.

On A Roll: Sophomore defenseman Justin Allen (Rochester, NY/Rochester Monarchs (USPHL-NCDC)) has continued his recent hot streak as a playmaker on the blue line. The second year player has two goals and seven assists this season, and has six assists in his last five games played as part of a five game point streak.

Rutkowski Ready To Rumble: Senior alternate captain Joey Rutkowski (Rome, NY/Smiths Falls Bears (CCHL)) remains in the midst of his best offensive season yet with seven total points, just three shy of his career high from last year. While his offensive presence continues an upward trend, he will also be relied upon greatly on Friday to shut down an Oswego offense that averages 3.92 goals per game, as he brings an inherent knowledge of the Lakers' systems, and the opponent's most senior players. Rutkowski played in 21 games for Oswego before transferring to Utica. 

Special Teams Update: The Pioneers are converting at 20 percent on the power play with a 12-of-60 clip to start the season. They rank 29th in the nation in power play percentage alongside Oswego. Utica holds a 76.7 percent success rate on the penalty kill this season.

Totaling It All Up: Utica is seventh in the nation in scoring offense at 4.31 goals per game. They are 27th nationally in scoring defense at 2.54 goals allowed per game, and are fourteenth in scoring margin. The team is outscoring opponents by eleven goals total in the third period and overtime this year. The team continues to be proficient in games where a significant scoring gap opens up. Utica is 6-0 in games decided by three or more goals this year, and are 44-8 over the last three-plus seasons under that condition.

About Oswego: The Lakers are 7-5-0, and 6-1-0 in SUNYAC play this season. They are fresh off of a pair of losses at the Oswego Pathfinder Classic against St. Mary's and the University of New England. Sophomore Travis Broughman leads the way with fifteen points on nine goals and six assists in his first twelve games of the year. He is 45th nationally in points per game. Senior forward Anthony Passero has a team-leading thirteen assists. Passero formerly played under Utica assistant coach Nick Therrien during the final year of Therrien's tenure at Buffalo State. David Richer has made ten starts in goal for the Lakers and has a goals allowed average of 2.43.

Up Next: Utica will take on nationally-ranked Wilkes University in a UCHC game on Friday, January 17th. The Colonels currently sit at the top of the conference standings. The contest begins at 5 p.m at the Toyota Sportsplex in Wilkes Barre, Pa.