UTICA, NY - The #3 Utica College men's ice hockey team returns to home ice following a four-game road trip with a pair of conference games. The Pioneers will host Stevenson on Saturday, January 29th, before turning their attention to Chatham on Sunday, January 30th. Game time for Saturday is 5 p.m. on "Parkway Drugs Night", while Sunday's matchup, designated as "Boy Scout Night", begins at 3 p.m. at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Follow Along: Live Video and Stats are available for all UC home games are available at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/, and video is also available on the FREE Empire 8 app available for a multitude of streaming devices. Additionally, the games will be on local radio at WPNR 90.7 FM and PioneerRadio.org. Sports Information Assistant Ray Biggs '13 is back for an eleventh season of play-by-play with the team and will take you through both games.
In The Polls: Utica has been ranked in the top 3 nationally for the entire season to date. The Pioneers are currently in their season-opening position of third, but was as high up as second for a two-week period, which coincided with a matchup with then-No. 1 Geneseo. Utica's only two losses this year on a 15-2 record have come to the two teams ranked in front of them in the poll: Geneseo and Adrian, and both of those games were one-goal games in the third period.
In The Drivers' Seat: Utica is in command of the UCHC standings at present, with a perfect 11-0 start and 33 standings points. Second place Wilkes is seven points back with 26, but does have a game in hand on the Pioneers. Manhattanville is third with 18 standings points, with Nazareth fourth at 17. The Pioneers are 15-2 overall and riding an eight game winning streak.
A First Look At The Pairwise: With the season hitting the home stretch, a glance at the pairwise rankings has Utica in fourth nationally. Adrian, Geneseo, and Augsburg occupy the top three spots on that ranking, while St. Norbert, Elmira, Wilkes, Hobart, Babson, and Trine round out the top ten.
Last Time Out: The Pioneers got in the football playoff spirit by dispatching both of their opponents by a touchdown with 7-0 wins over Lebanon Valley and Arcadia. In Friday's win at Lebanon Valley, the Pioneers were guided by a hat trick from Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)), while Sean Dickson (San Francisco, CA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL-Premier)) collected his tenth career shutout. Defenseman Jayson Dobay (Weymouth, MA/Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)) posted four assists. In Saturday's win over Arcadia, the Pioneers overcame a slow start with six goals in the final two periods to pull away. Dobay had a goal and two assists, Brian Scoville (Agawam, MA/Alabama-Huntsville (NCAA DI)) and Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)) each had two assists, and a total of seven different players scored a goal. Bryan Landsberger (Montreal, Quebec/Nepean Raiders (CCHL)) notched his first career shutout between the pipes. Utica outscored the weekend's opponents over four total contests this season by a 35-1 margin.
Against This Weekend's Opponents: Utica recorded a weekend sweep against this week's opponents in November. The Pioneers rolled past Chatham by a 10-1 score on November 12th, before prevailing 5-3 over Stevenson on November 13th. In the win over Chatham, Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)) and Justin Allen (Hilton, NY/Rochester Monarchs (USPHL-NCDC)) had two goals apiece. In the victory at Stevenson, Utica broke a 1-1 tie with five of the next six goals to take a 5-2 lead into the final moments before Stevenson's Chad Watt scored an extra attacker goal with just seconds left to play in what became a 5-3 win for Utica. Buster Larsson (Malmo, Sweden/Utica Jr. Comets (NCDC)) had four assists.
Player of the Week: Sophomore defenseman Jayson Dobay (Weymouth, MA/Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)) was named the United Collegiate Hockey Conference Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday. Dobay exploded for seven points in the weekend sweep. On Friday, he had four assists as the Pioneers downed Lebanon Valley 7-0. He followed that up with a goal and two assists in UC's 7-0 win over Arcadia on Saturday. He now has 18 points (two goals, 16 assists) in 17 games this year. 12 of his 18 points have come since the first of the year. He has also surged to a team-best +23. The Pioneers have earned a UCHC weekly award on the last five Mondays where they have been eligible for one.
A Balanced Juggernaut: The Pioneers rank in the top five nationally this season in scoring offense, scoring defense, power play percentage, and penalty kill percentage. The nation's highest scoring offense still belongs to Utica at an average of 5.65 goals per game. The Pioneers are one of just three teams nationally averaging over five goals per game at present. Utica is second nationally in scoring defense at 1.41 goals allowed per game. On special teams, Utica's power play has a goal in six of the last seven games, and has totaled 17 goals over that span. That includes a season-high six power play goals in the win over Neumann. That recent surge has helped the Pioneers to a 31.8 percent conversion rate, which is tops in the UCHC and second nationally. Since allowing two power play goals to Neumann, the Utica penalty kill unit has held opponents' man advantage units off the scoreboard in the last three games. Their 92.7 percent success rate is third nationally. They have held opponents scoreless on the power play in 15 out of 17 games.
Big Bad John: Junior forward John Moncovich (Wilmington, NC/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) ranks second nationally in goal scoring with 15, and is also second nationally in goals per game (0.88). He is also seventh nationally in points per game with an average of 1.65 this season. He leads the team with 28 total points. He has a goal in three of his last four games, and his next goal will be the 30th of his career.
Even Steven: Of the five players tied for ninth nationally in assists per game, four of those players are from Utica. Justin Allen (Hilton, NY/Rochester Monarchs (USPHL-NCDC)), Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)), Buster Larsson (Malmo, Sweden/Utica Jr. Comets (NCDC)), and Jayson Dobay (Weymouth, MA/Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)) all have 16 assists, and an average of 0.94 assists per game.
We're Going Streaking: Junior forward Buster Larsson (Malmo, Sweden/Utica Jr. Comets (NCDC)) continues to contribute on a nightly basis for the Pioneers. He has 24 points on eight goals and sixteen assists, and has an eight-game point streak that coincides with Utica's win streak. He is sixteenth nationally with 1.41 points per game.
The New Guy: Forward Remy Parker (Montclair, NJ/University of Maine (NCAA DI)) has become a nice addition to the roster after joining at mid-season. Through his first six games as a Pioneer, Parker has recorded a point a game with six points on three goals and three assists. Parker, a graduate of the USPHL's National Collegiate Development Conference, played in just three games at Division I Maine before making the move to UC.
Between Two Posts: Sean Dickson (San Francisco, CA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL-Premier)) has been one of the nation's top performers in goal this season. The senior leads the nation with a 1.17 goals allowed average, and is one of thirteen players nationally with multiple shutouts this season. His 93.5 percent save percentage is 16th in the nation. Dickson has a record of 11-1 this season, and a career record of 24-7-0. He currently maintains the lowest GAA and highest save percentage of a full-time starting goaltender in program history in addition to holding the career shutout record. His next win will be his 25th, which would tie him for fourth-most in school history. He has already passed Michael Fredrick, Mike Beacham, Jake Miskovic, Anthony Luckow, and Evan Smith on the career wins list this season.
How The Other Side Lives: Stevenson carries a 9-4-1 overall record into Saturday's game with UC. The Mustangs have lost their last two against Geneseo and Brockport. The game at Utica will be their first since Saturday, January 8th. Senior Ryan Patrick has sixteen points on six goals and ten assists, Junior Austin Master has fourteen points on five goals and nine assists, while Brendan Rylott has eleven points. Ryan Kenny has nine wins in twelve starts between the pipes. The Mustangs are coached by Utica native Dominick Dawes. Chatham is 5-7-2 overall ahead of the weekend, and features an explosive 29.8 percent power play.
Up Next: The Pioneers will host Nazareth on Saturday, February 5th.
