UTICA, NY - The No. 3 Utica College men's ice hockey team starts its quest for a second conference postseason title in three years this weekend as playoff action returns to the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The top-seeded Pioneers will host fifth seeded Nazareth in a conference semifinal series to be held on Saturday, February 29th, and Sunday, March 1st. Puck drop will be set for 2 p.m. in both contests.

Get Your Tickets: Tickets to see the Pioneers are available through multiple methods. Fans can purchase tickets online at EmpireStateTix.com. In addition, fans can purchase tickets at the Aud box office during regular business hours. The box office is also open longer on game days for all of your walk up ticketing needs, including before the Utica Comets home games on Friday and Saturday. Season ticket holders had their seats for the regular season reserved for the semifinal round until Wednesday evening, when the unsold seats were released to the general public for purchase.

Don't Forget To Bring A Towel: The first 2,500 fans at Saturday's game will receive a rally towel courtesy of Pavia Real Estate.

Follow Along: Live video and stats for all UC Home Games are available at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/. In addition, radio coverage of home games is available on WPNR 90.7 FM and PioneerRadio.org. Sports Information Assistant Ray Biggs '13 brings fans the play-by-play for a ninth year, with UC Student Abin Boris providing the color commentary this weekend. Fans can also view home games on the free Empire 8 apps available for Roku, Amazon Fire, and AppleTV.

Do Not Adjust Your Set: This season marks the second year of the new United Collegiate Hockey Conference men's playoff series format. The semifinal and championship rounds of the tournament are played in a two-game series format authorized for use by the NCAA. The series will feature two regulation games played to NCAA regular season parameters, meaning three twenty minute overtime periods, and a five minute overtime period if the game is tied. Unlike single elimination, games can end in a tie under this format. A team wins the series with two wins, or with a win and a tie. In the event the series is tied after two games, the series progresses into a twenty minute minigame following the second game. The minigame is its own stipulated contest. The score will be re-set, the ice will be re-surfaced, and teams can make lineup changes as they see fit. A twenty minute period will follow, and whichever team has the most goals at the end of that period earns the right to advance. If the score is tied, twenty minute sudden death overtimes go into effect continuously until someone scores to advance. 

Regular Season Champs: With their wins this past weekend, the Pioneers won a fourth consecutive conference regular season championship. The title is their seventh regular season title in the 19 year history of the program, and their sixth in the last eight years.

A Matter Of Records: UC finished its 25 game regular season with its best ever record over that time frame. The Pioneers are 21-2-2 and have tied a school record for wins in a season alongside the 2018 UCHC Championship team, and the 2013 NCAA Semifinalist squad. The team was 15-2-1 in the UCHC, and placed first with a grand total of 46 standings points. Utica is on a program record 16 game winning streak. That streak is the longest in Division III men's hockey this year, the longest active winning streak in NCAA men's college hockey, and is tied for the nation's longest active unbeaten streak.

And So, We Meet Again: The Pioneers will take on Nazareth in the conference semifinals for a second consecutive season. Last year, the Pioneers won by scores of 2-1 and 3-2 against the Golden Flyers to win the series. The 3-2 win came in overtime on a rare occurrence in college hockey. Pioneer defenseman Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) scored an overtime empty net goal to clinch the series. This happened because Nazareth was in a situation where a win was their only means of avoiding elimination. Fritz had two goals and two assists to guide UC in the series. Utica's power play unit was 2-of-7 in the two games, and the Pioneers outshot the Golden Flyers in both games.

In The Season Series: The Pioneers swept the regular season series against the Golden Flyers this year by a margin of two games to zero. They outscored Naz over the two games by a 13-2 margin. Utica won its home leg of the season series on November 15th, 2019 with a 4-1 win. Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) and John Moncovich (Wilmington, NC/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) each scored a power play goal, and Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) had a goal and an assist. Justin Miller scored the lone goal for Nazareth.  On January 31st, 2020, the team finished off the season sweep with a 9-1 victory at the Bill Gray's Iceplex in Rochester. Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) had two goals and two assists, while Fritz had three assists. Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) stopped 30 of 31 shots. The UC power play went 2-for-5. That unit went 4-for-10 in the two meetings combined, while Naz's man advantage unit was 0-for-10.

Semi Charmed Life: The Pioneers are undefeated in their last six conference semifinal appearances. The last time they lost a conference semifinal game was in the 2010-11 season. Utica has advanced to the conference tournament final in four straight seasons.

Last Time Out: Utica scored the first five goals of the game and held the nation's fifth highest scoring offense to just a single goal as they rolled past nationally ranked Wilkes University by a 5-1 score. Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)), Jarrod Fitzpatrick (Wakefield, MA/Northern Cyclones (EHL)), Buster Larsson (Bunkeflostrand, Sweden/Syracuse Stars (NCDC)), Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)), and Eric Holland (Whitby, ON/Brockville Braves (CCHL)) all scored for UC. Utica was 2-of-6 on the power play and had 41 shots on goal.

Bringing in the Big Guns: The Pioneers once again have the nation's highest scoring offense at an average of 5.16 goals per game. Six players have ten goals or more as part of a balanced grouping of scorers, and five players are averaging a point per game or better. Utica has scored four or more goals in fifteen of its last sixteen games.

Holland Named Player of the Week: Sophomore forward Eric Holland (Whitby, ON/Brockville Braves (CCHL)) was named the UCHC men's player of the week on Monday. Holland turned in an awesome weekend as the No. 3 Pioneers locked up the UCHC regular season title. He recorded his first career hat trick and added an assist on Friday as Utica cruised past King's College by a 9-0 score. On Saturday, he added another goal and assist as UC topped No. 13 Wilkes by a 5-1 score to claim the regular season crown.

I Am Oz: Brandon Osmundson (Chesapeake, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) continues to lead the team in points with 37 on 12 goals and 25 assists this season. He is the nation's top scoring rookie. Osmundson's 37 points ties Tim Coffman for the second most by a Utica freshman, and he needs just four more to tie Ryan Webb's rookie points record at Utica. That record has stood since the 2003-04 season.

He's Done It: With the first goal of the game in Friday's 9-0 win over King's, sophomore forward Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)) is the program's new record holder for game-winning goals in a single season. No Pioneer before Cavanagh has ever recorded five game-winning goals in a single season. He is third in the country in game-winners.

Daniel Is At It Again: Senior defenseman Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) is second on the team with 36 points on ten goals and twenty six assists. He leads the nation's defensemen with an average of 1.44 points per game. He needs three more points to tie Dalton Carter's (Toledo, OH/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) program records for points in a season (39) and in a career (82) by a Utica defenseman. Fritz is the college's new standard bearer for career assists by a defenseman with 60.

Seeing Ghosts: Junior forward Kasper Kjellkvist (Vaxjo, Sweden/Curry College (Commonwealth Coast Conf.)) has put up an impressive first season with the Pioneers, as he is the team's current goal scoring leader with fifteen. All of his goals this year have come at even strength.

Landrigan Lights It Up: Junior forward Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) is having a career year with 34 points in just eighteen games. The third year Pioneer has 34 points on eleven goals and twenty three assists, and will likely crack the top ten nationally in points per game if he becomes ranking eligible by playing in both games this weekend.

Top of the Heap: Senior goaltender and reigning UCHC goaltender of the year Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) has turned in another excellent season to date. He has won thirteen straight decisions en route to a record of 15-1-2.  His 88.9 percent winning percentage is the best in Division III among eligible goaltenders this season. He has stopped 91.8 percent of opposing shots and has a goals allowed average of 2.18. Baggetta has been especially great in appearances during the second half of the season during his career. In fact, he is unbeaten in his last 24 regular season decisions to happen between January 1st and the end of the regular season, and is 25-2-2 overall under those same conditions in his four year career.

Shoot Your Shot: UC has outshot its opponent in five straight games. This season, the team is averaging 38.4 shots on goal per game, and is conceding just 25.

A Race To Three: Utica has held opponents to three goals or less in each of their last thirteen games. That silencing of opposing offenses has led Utica to climb up to sixth nationally in scoring defense with an average of 2.04 goals per game. They have shut out their opponents three times in their last five games.

Turn On The Power: The team's power play unit sits at an even 24 percent at the end of the regular season, and converted 25 of 104 opportunities. Utica averaged a power play goal per game during the regular season. Fritz is fifteenth in the nation with seven power play goals. The Pioneers are also fifteenth nationally as a power play unit. Six UCHC power play units are ranked in the top 20 nationally.

Our House, Our Rules:  Utica is 10-1-2 this season when playing at home, and has outscored opponents 55-21 in eleven appearances at the Aud. The Pioneers have won nine straight home contests. UC is also 37-6-3 in home games over the last three seasons, and has a dominating record of 22-2-2 in regular season conference home games in the three years of the UCHC's existence.

About Nazareth: The fifth-seeded Golden Flyers are 12-11-3, and 8-9-1 in the UCHC this season. They defeated Elmira 5-2 in the opening round. They sport the nation's 46th highest scoring offense at 2.92 goals per game. James McDonald leads the team with fifteen goals and six assists for 21 points. Goaltender Michael Tilford has been the go-to option recently for head coach George Roll between the pipes, and he has amassed a record of 8-5-2.

Up Next: If the Pioneers advance, they would host the UCHC Championship series next weekend.