UTICA, NY - The #2 Utica Pioneers men's ice hockey team finishes off the regular season at home on Saturday, February 19th, and Sunday, February 20th. On Saturday, the Pioneers host Manhattanville as part of "House of the Good Shepherd Night" at 5 p.m. On Sunday, Utica rounds out the regular season against Neumann University. That game begins at 2 p.m at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Follow Along: Live Video and Stats are available for all Utica 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.
As It Stands Now: Utica is 20-2-1 overall heading into the final weekend of the regular season, and its 15-0-1 United Collegiate Hockey Conference record was good enough to lock up the program's ninth regular season conference championship this past weekend. The Pioneers have won all five UCHC regular season titles since the league's formation, and have won six straight crowns dating back to the days of the ECAC West. Utica has won 20 or more games in the last four seasons where it has been mathematically possible to do so, and has five 20 win seasons to its name over the life of the program. The Blue and Orange are currently second in the latest US College Hockey Online poll released on Monday. The Pioneers have been ranked in the top three for the entire season in the weekly coaches' and media poll. Utica has also moved up to third in the latest edition of the PairWise Rankings, which are used to select and seed the NCAA tournament field.
The Series Marks: Neumann and Manhattanville have both been conference opponents for Utica since the inaugural season of Pioneers hockey in the 2001-2002 season. This will be Utica's 60th game all-time against Manhattanville, with the Pioneers holding a 30-24-5 edge in the series. The Blue and Orange has claimed fourteen of the last fifteen meetings, and the Pioneers have not dropped consecutive meetings since the 2011-12 season. This will be the 53rd all-time meeting against Neumann, with Utica leading the series 26-20-6. The Pioneers have won the last four, and eight of the last ten against the Knights. Utica has not lost to Neumann at home since November of 2014.
The Last Go Round: Utica last played Neumann and Manhattanville on Friday, January 14th, and Saturday, January 15th. The Pioneers opened the weekend at Neumann and routed the Knights to the tune of an 11-3 win. Brett Everson (Mississauga, Ontario/Hawkesbury (CCHL)) had a hat trick, while the Utica power play exploded for six goals. The following day, the Pioneers nursed a 3-2 lead for the final 32:38 of play as they topped host Manhattanville by the same score. Cameron Patton (Truro, Nova Scotia/Yarmouth Mariners (MJAHL)), Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)), and Remy Parker (Montclair, NJ/University of Maine (NCAA DI)) had the Pioneer goals.
Last Time Out: The Pioneers did enough to lock up the regular season conference title on the road, as they pounded King's by a 7-1 score on Friday, before tying #9 Wilkes 1-1 on Saturday. On Friday, Regen Cavanagh (Chesapeake, VA/Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)) recorded a hat trick, while Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)) scored twice more. On Saturday, Mic Curran (Arlington, MA/Curry College (CCC)) had the lone Pioneer goal, while Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)) and Brandon Osmundson (Virginia Beach, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) scored in the shootout to secure two out of the three standings points available and seal the top seed.
The Possibilities: As the top overall seed in the UCHC tournament, Utica will welcome the eighth seed in the quarterfinals of the eight-team single elimination tournament on Tuesday, February 22nd at 7 p.m. King's and Lebanon Valley are tied for the eighth and final spot in the playoffs and are the Pioneers' most likely opponents, while sixth place Neumann also remains a reasonable mathematical prospect at five points ahead of eighth place.
Putting Up Big Numbers: The Pioneers continue to rank first in the nation in scoring defense at 1.30 goals per game this season, and the squad is second nationally in scoring offense at 5.39 goals per game. Special teams have also been a tremendous asset for the squad this season, as the Utica power play ranks fourth nationally at 30.3 percent, and the penalty kill unit is third at 93.1 percent.
Milestone Watch: Keep a continued eye on Justin Allen (Hilton, NY/Rochester Monarchs (USPHL-NCDC)) and Mic Curran (Arlington, MA/Curry College (CCC)) as this weekend approaches. Allen, a senior defenseman, is approaching the record for career points by a defenseman at Utica. He has 77 career points on 14 goals and 63 assists, and is five points away from tying the career record of 82 points held by Daniel Fritz and Dalton Carter. His 63 career assists recently passed Fritz for fourth in school history among all skaters in that category. This season, Allen is enjoying a career offensive campaign with a career-high 30 points on 8 goals and 22 assists. He ranks second nationally among defensemen at 1.30 points per game. Utica's resident ironman defenseman has played the first 91 games of his career without a single absence. In his first season with Utica, Curran has made quite a splash with 22 points on five goals and seventeen assists. With a goal and an assist this past weekend, the senior climbed to 99 career points, and needs just one more point to hit the century mark.
Focused Forward: Brandon Osmundson (Virginia Beach, VA/Hampton Roads Whalers (USPHL)) is also on the move through the college's record books. The junior forward has amassed 86 points on 26 goals and 58 assists in his first 62 games with Utica. Osmundson is tied for seventh in school history alongside 2014 All-American Trever Hertz in assists, and his 86 points are currently the seventh-most in the history of the program. This season, Osmundson has 30 points on ten goals and twenty assists, and has a career-high two game-winning goals to his name. He is tied for 30th nationally at 1.30 points per game, and has four power play goals to rank second on the team and 45th nationally.
The Power Plant: The power play business has been booming lately for junior captain Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)). The forward has six power play goals since the first of the year, and has seven overall to rank second in the nation.
About The Opposition: Manhattanville is 9-10-3 overall, and 6-7-3 in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference entering the weekend. The Valiants are currently in fifth in the conference standings, and will be playing to possibly earn home ice in the quarterfinals this weekend. Last weekend, they beat Neumann by a 4-3 score before a 6-4 loss to Albertus Magnus. The Valiants have just one win in their last seven games. Niko Happo leads the team with 22 points on six goals and sixteen assists. Happo is averaging 1.10 points per game to rank 62nd nationally. Neumann is 8-13-1 overall, and 5-10-1 in the UCHC to rank seventh in the conference standings. Nick Martino and Barry Kneedler have 14 and 11 goals, respectively, entering the weekend. Martino is fifteenth nationally at an average of 1.48 points per game. The Knights have lost two of their last three, and all three of those games went into overtime. They lost to Manhattanville 4-3 on February 11th.
Up Next: The Pioneers will battle an opponent to be determined in the UCHC quarterfinals on Tuesday.
