ASTON, PA - The No. 7 Utica University men's hockey team blanked the hosting Neumann University Knights 5-0 on Saturday evening. 
 
Five different players notched a goal in the contest in Shane Murphy (Oriskany, NY/Danbury Hat Tricks (NAHL)), Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)), Kimball Johnson (Dallas, TX/University of St. Thomas (NCAA DI)), Andrew Della Rovere (Caledon East, ON/Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)) and Khristian Acosta (Port Monmouth, NJ/Mercyhurst University (NCAA DI)). Della Rovere added two assists to his line to have a team leading three points. Domenick Evtimov (Northbrook, IL/Oklahoma Warriors (NAHL)), Eric Vitale (Toronto, ON/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)), John Gutt (Middletown, NJ/Utica JR Comets (NCDC)), Nicolas Haviar (Vail, CO/Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)) and Morse also had assists. 
 
In goal, Ethan Roberts (Cary, NC/University of St. Thomas (NCAA DI)) earned his seventh win and second shutout of the year with a 17 save performance. 
 
The Pioneers outshot the knights 78-24 overall and 53-17 on goal. Each side committed six penalties in the game, with Utica coming through on one power play, while the Pioneers won 31 of 58 faceoffs. Michael Herrera (Syracuse, NY/Utica Comets (NCDC)) led the unit with 11 wins on the dot followed by Della Rovere with seven and Chris Carroll (Islip, NY/New Jersey Titans (NAHL)) with six. 
 
Utica had at least one goal in each period in the game, including a red-hot, three-goal first period. 
 
Roughly 7:30 into the first period, Stevenson's Tyler Kennedy was nailed for a tripping call, setting the Pioneers up on their first power play of the night. While on it, Della Rovere and Evtimov connected with Acosta, who buried it at 7:59 for a 1-0 edge. 
 
As the period wound down, Della Rovere went from an assist to scoring one of his own. The freshman scored at 17:17 while two minutes later, Johnson sent in his first goal since November to open the game up to 3-0 entering intermission. 
 
Following a slow start to the second, Morse extended Utica's lead with 4:23 left in the period off an assist from Haviar. Then in a third, Murphy put the finishing touches on the contest with his second goal of the season at 9:09. Roberts was able to stop all seven of Neumann's third period shots to capture the shutout and secure the win. 
 
Utica (10-2-3, 9-0-1 UCHC) will return home next weekend for a pair of games against Lebanon Valley College. The teams will play at the Utica University Nexus Center at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 19 before heading next door to the Adirondack Bank Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 20. 

Tickets for both games can be purchased through https://empirestatetix.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=UCP&linkID=utica&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=.