UTICA, NY - In a battle of the top two teams in the USCHO Poll, it was not Utica's day to come out on top. The #2 Pioneers battled in a one goal game leading into the final minutes, but #1 Geneseo scored two empty-net goals in the final 1:10 of the contest to prevail by a 3-0 score at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
The Pioneers fall to 7-2 this season, with both losses coming against teams ranked in the top three nationally in the current poll. Geneseo claims the title of the Utica Thanksgiving Showcase, and the top-ranked Ice Knights improve to 8-0-1. The visitors have not lost a game since January of 2020. The meeting was the first regular season contest between the top two teams in the national polls since Adrian and St. Norbert met in the 2017-18 season.
Utica out-shot the Ice Knights by a 23-15 count to lead that category over the opposition for a 28th straight game. The Pioneers had the only two power plays of the game, but converted on neither. UC held a 27-23 edge on faceoffs, with Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)) winning twelve of them.
John Moncovich (Wilmington, NC/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) finished with a team-best five shots, while Peter Morgan, Brendan Miller, and Ryan Burnett had the Ice Knights goals.
In goal, Geneseo's Matt Petizian pitched a 23 save shutout, marking the first time the Pioneers have been shut out at home since a 0-0 tie against Oswego State in January of 2016. Sean Dickson (San Francisco, CA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL-Premier)) stopped 12 of 13 shots in his first loss of the season for Utica.
Geneseo used some net-front traffic to their advantage to grab the early lead in the first period with a goal at 14:42. Morgan teed up his third goal of the weekend with a shot from distance that tracked through a dual screen set by his teammates and behind Dickson for a 1-0 Ice Knights lead.
Utica came close to answering in the second period, but would be denied. With under 17 minutes to go in the frame, Justin Allen (Hilton, NY/Rochester Monarchs (USPHL-NCDC)) let a shot fly from the point that deflected off the pads of Petizian, who was off balance due to some contact at the front of the net. Brandon Osmundson (Virginia Beach, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) shot the puck over a sprawled Petizian, but the tally was disallowed, and the score remained 1-0.
It would stay that way until the final moments. Despite a firm Utica effort to challenge, the Ice Knights had Miller and Burnett score on empty nets, and the visitors escaped with a 3-0 win in a preview of a potential post-season matchup.
Utica remains at home on Friday and Saturday. They will battle Wilkes in a UCHC game on Friday, before hosting the latest edition of the New York SASH Teddy Bear Toss against King's in a conference game on Saturday.
