UTICA, NY - The No. 3 Utica College men's ice hockey team attempts to force a potential winner-take-all battle for the United Collegiate Hockey Conference regular season championship, and lock up a first round bye as they host their final two home games of the 2019-20 regular season at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The Pioneers will host King's College on Friday, and No. 13 Wilkes on Saturday. Both games will begin at 7 p.m.

Dunkin Donuts Make-A-Wish Night: The Pioneers are again continuing their long standing partnership with Dunkin Donuts and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central New York as they host Dunkin Donuts Make-A-Wish night on Friday. The team's continued partnership with Dunkin, and with the foundation, is dedicated to improving the lives of children with critical illnesses.

Ticket Renewals Are A Go: Season ticket holders can renew their season tickets for the 2020-21 season beginning on Friday. Ticket holders can do so either during business hours at the box office, or at that evening's game against King's. Renewals can also be done by phone at (315) 790-9070 or in person during business hours on an ongoing basis through May 1st. Season ticket prices have undergone a slight increase for next season, but the packages will include general admission tickets to the team's newly announced outdoor game in February 2021. More detailed information can be found at https://ucpioneers.com/news/2020/2/20/mens-ice-hockey-uc-hockey-season-ticket-renewals-to-begin-friday.aspx. 

Let's Take This Outside: Utica College, Mohawk Valley Garden, and the Utica Comets announced plans to host a series of outdoor games in February 2021 on Thursday. The Pioneers will play Oswego State on Feburary 12th, 2021 at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, NY. This will be Utica's first ever true outdoor game appearance. The two teams previously met inside the Carrier Dome at Syracuse University and skated to a tie in the 2014-15 season. Tickets to the event will be ten dollars with general admission seating. 

Follow Along: This weekend's games can be followed via live video and stats at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica. The game can also be found on local radio at WPNR 90.7 FM on the dial and online at PioneerRadio.org. Sports Information Assistant Ray Biggs '13 returns for a ninth season of UC Hockey play-by-play on commercial or non-commercial radio. Live video of games hosted by Utica, Elmira, and Nazareth this season can also be seen via the free Empire 8 Conference Apps available on AppleTV, Amazon Fire, and Roku.

Here's The Situation: The Pioneers are in second place in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference with 40 points. First place Wilkes has 42, and third place Stevenson has 37. A team gets three points for a regulation or first overtime win, two for winning in the 3-on-3 or shootout, and one for losing in the 3-on-3 or shootout. The top two teams in the conference will get a bye into the semifinal round and will await one of the two opening round winners for a series next weekend. The team that lands in third place will host an opening round game tenatively scheduled for Tuesday. If Utica and Wilkes win on Friday, Saturday will effectively become a winner-take-all for the UCHC regular season title. Utica can lock up a bye on Friday for certain without tiebreakers coming into play as long as they record as many points as Stevenson gets Friday, or with a win. Either scenario puts the tiebreaker out of reach for Stevenson to catch Utica. Utica, Wilkes, Stevenson, Neumann, Nazareth, and Elmira are the six teams that have officially qualified for this year's tournament.

Setting The Record Straight: The Pioneers are 19-2-2 in the first 23 games of a 25 game regular season, and have moved up to third in the latest USCHO Poll. The ranking is their highest ever in the USCHO poll, and ties their best ranking in either coaches/media poll to operate in the history of the program, as UC has also achieved a peak ranking of third in the now-defunct D3hockey.com poll. Utica is on a fourteen game winning streak, which continues to stand as the longest active streak in NCAA Men's Hockey, and the longest in Division III this season. The Pioneers have outscored opponents 83-30 in their last fourteen games. They have won nine road games in that time, and five home contests.

Over The Weekend: The Pioneers played in two drastically different conference games this weekend, but the results remained the same as the Pioneers posted two wins in a weekend sweep of Chatham and Stevenson. In Friday's 6-0 rout of Chatham, Utica scored three goals in each of the first and second periods in a dominant performance. Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) had three assists, while Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) had a goal and two assists. Sean Dickson (Millbrae, CA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL-Premier)) and Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) combined for a shutout in goal. In Saturday's game, the Pioneers gained and lost a 2-0 lead in the first period, then built another two goal lead before weathering a late visiting charge in a 4-3 win over Stevenson University. Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) scored the game-winning goal on a short handed effort in the third period, while Landrigan, Fritz, and Vaden McManus (Fayetteville, NC/Hampton Roads (USPHL)) had two assists apiece. The win over Stevenson broke a standings tie between the two teams gave the Pioneers sole possession of second place in the UCHC.

Our House, Our Rules:  Utica is 8-1-2 this season when playing at home, and have outscored opponents 41-20 in eleven appearances at the Aud. The Pioneers have won seven straight home contests. UC is also 35-6-3 in home games over the last three seasons, and have a dominating record of 20-2-2 in regular season conference home games in the three years of the UCHC's existence.

Put Your Brooms Back: Utica's win over Stevenson ensures that the Pioneers will not be swept by any conference opponent in the regular season for a second straight year.

The Last Time Against These Two: The Pioneers enjoyed a successful road weekend the last time they met Wilkes and King's on January 17th and 18th, 2020. On the first day of the road trip, the Pioneers delivered a statement win as they scored the first six goals of the game in an 8-3 win over the nationally-ranked Colonels. Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)) had a hat trick to pave the way for the Pioneers. UC then doused King's by a 10-0 score the following day. They were paced by a natural hat trick from junior forward Kasper Kjellkvist (Vaxjo, Sweden/Curry College (Commonwealth Coast Conf.)), while Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)) and Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) had a goal and two assists each. Joseph Giacobbo (Deptford, NJ/Rockland Nationals (CCHL)) had his first college shutout in goal. Utica converted four of nine power play chances over the course of that weekend.

The All-Time Series: Utica is 3-0 all-time against Wilkes, and 5-0 all-time against King's College. Two of the three meetings against Wilkes have been decided by two goals or less. Utica has outscored King's by a 37-5 margin in the history of the series.

The Nail Biting Is Worth Your While: The Pioneers are 6-1 this season when playing in games decided by a single goal.

You Want Offense, You Got It: Saturday's game will feature two of the top five scoring offenses in the nation between Utica and Wilkes. The Pioneers are tied for third nationally at an average of five goals per game, and the Colonels are right behind in fifth at an average of 4.87 points per game. The game will include five of the top twenty forwards nationally in points per game, a group that includes Division III leader Donald Flynn of Wilkes. Flynn is averaging 2.18 points per game this season, and is two points away from a 50 point campaign. He leads the country with 26 goals. The Pioneers feature two of the top 20 point-getters in the country in Brandon Osmundson (Chesapeake, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) and Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)). Osmundson and Fritz are tied for tenth nationally in points per game at an average of 1.48. Osmundson leads all rookies nationally, while Fritz leads all defensemen nationally as well in points per game. Osmundson has 34 points on 12 goals and 22 assists, while Fritz has logged 34 points on nine goals and a career best 25 assists. Both skaters need one point each to become the ninth and tenth players in school history to have a 35 point season.

Record Watch: Defenseman Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) has 77 career points at Utica, which is the second highest total for a player in program history at his position. He needs just five more total points to tie All-American Dalton Carter's (Toledo, OH/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) record of 82. Additionally, Fritz has 59 career assists to tie the school record for a defenseman also held by Carter. Junior forward Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) has become just the ninth player in school history to hit 80 career points after his performance this weekend. Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)) has four game-winning goals, and needs one more to set a new school single season record.

In Goal: Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) has the second best winning percentage of any goaltender in the nation at a record 13-1-2 this season. He has a goals allowed average of 2.31, and a save percentage of 91.4 percent. He has 35 career victories to rank third in school history, and is also third in career saves. His six career shutouts tie him for second in school history with assistant coach Nick Therrien.

Power On: The Pioneers are 23-of-97 on the power play this season, which is good for a clip of 23.7 percent. Six UCHC power play units rank in the top 20 nationally, including Utica at eighteenth.

About Wilkes: The Colonels are in first place in the UCHC with an 18-5-0 record, and a conference record of 14-2-0. They are now led by Union grad Tyler Hynes, who is a former college teammate of Roman Ammirato's (Williamstown, NJ/Union College (ECAC)) before Roman transferred to Utica. Original head coach Brett Riley is now an assistant at Colgate University. Donald Flynn's 26 goals lead an offense with three players over 30 points. Nick Fea has 33 assists to rank third nationally. Defenseman Michael Gurska is third in the nation in points per game among defensemen at an average of 1.30.

About King's: The Monarchs are 2-20-1 under the guidance of Syracuse, NY native Stephen Mallaro. Rookie Tommy Cahill has sixteen points on seven goals and nine assists to lead King's this season. The Monarchs have split time in goal evenly with Brandon Daigle and Tyler Sayger getting minutes.

Up Next: The Pioneers await their first UCHC playoff game in either the semifinals, or opening round. They will pursue a second title in three years, while also attempting to push themselves back to the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship Tournament for the first time since 2013.