UTICA, NY - The No. 4 Utica College men's ice hockey team looks to continue on a historic late season run as they complete a three game road trip this weekend with two United Collegiate Hockey Conference games. The Pioneers will do battle with No. 15 Elmira on Friday at 7 p.m. in Horseheads, New York, before meeting Lebanon Valley on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Follow Along: Live video and stats will be available for both games this weekend, as presented by the Athletic Communications Offices for both schools. In addition, Friday's game at Elmira will be streamed on the free Empire 8 Conference apps available for Roku, Amazon Fire, and AppleTV devices.

Where We Stand: The Pioneers are 15-2-2, and 9-2-1 in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference. They are now ranked fourth in the latest USCHO poll, which ties a program record for the team's highest ever ranking in that poll. The squad has won a program record ten straight games, which is the second longest unbeaten streak in the nation. Utica's two losses at present are its fewest ever in the first nineteen games of a season. UC has 28 points in the conference standings and sits in third place, five back of first place Wilkes.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers led just 1-0 after one, but left nothing to chance with eight goals in the final 40 minutes in a 9-1 demolition of conference rival Nazareth. Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) had two goals and two assists, Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) had three assists, and Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) stopped 30 of 31 shots in goal. Utica outshot Nazareth 46-31 and went 2-of-5 on the power play.

An Important Weekend: The upcoming weekend of conference play for Utica is a vitally important one, as it provides the opportunity to level out a five point hole in the team's conference point total. Earlier this season, the Pioneers tied Lebanon Valley before losing in the UCHC 3v3 double overtime session, and lost in regulation to Elmira by a 4-2 score. With the results, the Pioneers nabbed just one out of a possible six conference points from that weekend in November. With the team's strong play as of late, and the end of the season fast approaching, this weekend's games provide an opportunity to make amends for those defeats while picking up ground on the frontrunners.

Player of The Week: Junior forward Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)) was named the United Collegiate Hockey Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday. Landrigan won the award for his four point outing in the team's win over Nazareth. Landrigan has 24 points in just twelve games this season, and is on a six game point streak presently. If his current number of games played qualified for the national leaderboard, he would be second nationally in points per game. Landrigan is now ninth in school history with 33 career goals after his performance this weekend, as he passed Adam Graff and Matt Fitzgibbons. His next goal will tie him for seventh alongside assistant coach Jon Ames, and All-American Roman Ammirato (Williamstown, NJ/Union College (ECAC)). He needs five more total points to tie for ninth in school history.

On The Road: The Pioneers are 9-1-0 when playing on the road this season, and have won their last seven road contests. Four of those games have been played against nationally ranked opposition. Utica has outscored opponents 66-28 when playing away this season, and are routing conference opponents 51-16 when on the road.

Pass The Pepper: Utica has logged 40 or more shots in its last four appearances, and on nine different occasions overall this year. That includes a season-best 51 shots in a 10-0 blanking of King's College. They are averaging 37.2 shots on goal per game this year.

Not Even Close: In their recent ten game winning streak, the Pioneers are outscoring opponents 65-25. They are winning games in that span by an average of four goals per game. The team is 10-0 in games decided by three or more goals this year, and 40-4 in games decided by such a margin in the last three seasons.

On Offense: Utica has six players averaging over a point per game as part of an offense that now leads the nation with 5.11 goals per game on average. They are one of eight teams nationally to have logged 90 or more goals at this point in the season. Freshman Brandon Osmundson (Chesapeake, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) leads the team in total points with 30 on 10 goals and 20 assists. He is the nation's leading rookie scorer at an average of 1.58 points per game, a figure that also ranks eighth nationally among all skaters. Kasper Kjellkvist (Vaxjo, Sweden/Curry College (Commonwealth Coast Conf.)) is the team's top goal scorer with a total of twelve markers this season. He is 22nd in the nation with an average of 0.63 goals per game.

Blue Line Banter: Senior defenseman Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) continues to produce at an eye popping rate this season. He has 26 points on 7 goals and 19 assists this year for the Pioneers, and ranks second on the team in points and assists. He has already met his point total from a season ago in ten fewer games. His average of 1.37 points per game is second nationally, and he is just one of eleven defensemen in the country averaging a point a game or better. He has 69 career points to rank second among defensemen on the program's all-time list. He will play in his 75th career game on Friday. Justin Allen (Rochester, NY/Rochester Monarchs (USPHL-NCDC)) has rocketed up the national defenseman scoring list and now stands in 24th at an average of 0.84 points per game. Allen has goals in back-to-back games for Utica.

On Special Teams: The Pioneers sport a quality power play that has converted 20 of 83 opportunities for a 24.1 percent clip this season. Fritz leads the team with five power play goals. The team has multiple power play goals in four of their last five games played. The UC penalty kill sits at 79.2 percent, but the unit has not had a lot of exposure lately, with the Pioneers limiting opponents to five or fewer power play chances in every game during the month of January.

In Goal: Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) has been strong as of late for the Pioneers, as he holds a 9-1-2 record in goal for Utica this season and has not lost in eight straight decisions. He has a career record of 31-7-4. He has an 18-4-2 career record in conference regular season games. This year, he has logged a save percentage of 90.9 percent, and a goals allowed average of 2.61.

About Elmira: The No. 15 Soaring Eagles are 13-5-1 overall, and 9-4-0 in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference with 27 points. They have won three of their last five, but most recently suffered a 4-3 loss to Neumann. Their last three contests have been decided by a single goal. The Pioneers will need to be wary of an Elmira power play that leads the nation at an absurd 34.4 percent. Headlining that unit is an eight power play goal season by forward Matthew Cuce. Reigning UCHC Co-Player of the Year Connor Powell has ten goals and sixteen assists for 28 total points, and 2018 All-American Nick Ford has 12 goals and sixteen assists for 28 points. Ford has 137 career points, and both members of that latter tandem have 62 career goals. Chris Janzen is 8-2 this season between the pipes after transferring in from Division I Clarkson.

About Lebanon Valley: The Flying Dutchmen are 5-12-3 this season, but are unbeaten in their last three games with a win, and two ties. They lost a shootout following a 2-2 tie with Manhattanville in their last appearance. Cole Hepler leads the squad with thirteen points on seven goals and six assists. Syracuse, NY native Henry Burns remains the team's top goaltending choice, and is the reigning UCHC goaltender of the week.

What's Next: The Pioneers will return home to battle Chatham University on Friday, February 14th at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Utica has never lost to the Cougars.