UTICA, NY - In its return to action in nearly a month, the No. 7 Utica University men's hockey team lit up the scoreboard in its 6-2 win over the visiting Manhattanville College Valiants on Friday evening. The game was the first played at the Utica University Nexus Center for the men's team. 
 
Six different Pioneers found the back of the net in the win as Andrew Della Rovere (Caledon East, ON/Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)), Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)), Aiden Hughes (Mississauga, ON/Milton Menace (OJHL)), Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)), Eric Vitale (Toronto, ON/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)) and Gabriel Lundberg (Gothenburg, Sweden/Janesville Jets (NAHL)) all scored. For Vitale and Lundberg it was their first collegiate goals. 
 
Kimball Johnson (Dallas, TX/University of St. Thomas (NCAA DI)) recorded a pair of assists on the night while Morse, Della Rovere, Michael Herrera (Syracuse, NY/Utica Comets (NCDC)), Shane Murphy (Oriskany, NY/Danbury Hat Tricks (NAHL)), Griffen Barr (Nanaimo, BC/Vernon Vipers (BCHL)), Dante Spagnuolo (Newmarket, ON/Adrian College (NCAA DIII)), Alexander Gullichsen (Turku, Finland/Aberdeen Wings (NAHL)), Jakob Breault (Acton Vale, QC/Alaska-Fairbanks (NCAA DI)) and Khristian Acosta (Port Monmouth, NJ/Mercyhurst University (NCAA DI)) all had one. 
 
Bryan Landsberger (Montreal, Quebec/Nepean Raiders (CCHL)) got in on the scoring fun as well as he notched an assist in the game. He also stopped 32 Valiant shots while picking up the win. 
 
The Pioneers wasted no time getting the home crowd on their feet as Della Rovere scored his second goal of the season at 1:14 in the first for an early edge. Both sides settled in for the next 10 minutes until Hughes continued his hot streak with his team leading sixth goal of the year at 12:05. 
 
The end of the first came and went with Utica ahead 2-0, as did the first half of the second period. It would be at the 11:35 mark of the second when M'Ville would cut its deficit in half with a score by Nicholas Rogers. 
 
As the period was winding down, the Pioneers found themselves on their second power play of the period as well as in a 40 second span. This time, the team capitalized. 
 
Just 33 seconds into the advantage, Morse put one through the five-hole on goalie Sebastian Woods to make it a 3-1 contest entering the third. 
 
The final period served to be special for two Utica freshmen as Lundberg (12:05) and Vitale (13:34) nailed their first career goals for what were the fifth and sixth Pioneer goals of the night. Wood scored what was the fourth goal for the team at 6:40 while Manhattanville notched one at 10:48 for what was, at the time, a 4-2 game in favor of Utica. 
 
Utica (7-2-3, 6-0-1 UCHC) and Manhattanville will complete the series at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Adirondack Bank Center.