UTICA, NY - The No. 3 Utica University Men's Hockey team is right back in action the day after Thanksgiving, hosting the Delta by Marriott Thanksgiving Showcase Tournament on Friday and Saturday of this week. This year's lineup features the #3 ranked team in Division III, the Pioneers, along with a trio of teams that have storied rivalries with the hosts in Oswego State, Stevenson University, and University of New England. The tournament will begin at 4:00 on both Friday and Saturday, with the Lakers and Mustangs kicking off the proceedings in Friday's first semifinal. Whichever matchup on Saturday features two visiting teams will be played at 4:00, while the Pioneers will take part in the 7:30 slot on both nights, regardless of Friday's results.
 
How to Watch: You can catch this weekend's tournament action by heading to the "Watch" tab in the Men's Ice Hockey schedule section of our athletics website. You can also follow the link below to view each game.
Utica Men's Ice Hockey Stream: https://www.empire8network.com/utica/
 
Keep Up With Live Stats: You can follow along with live statistics for the games by heading to the "Live Stats" tab under the matchups in the Men's Ice Hockey schedule section of our athletics website. You can also follow the link below to view live statistics for the entire weekend.
Utica Men's Ice Hockey Live Statistics: https://uticapioneers.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
 
Weekend Recap: Utica welcomed a scrappy Chatham side to the Adirondack Bank Center this past Friday and Saturday for a pair of home matchups against the Cougars. The Pioneers got off to a couple blazing hot starts in the two UCHC competitions, outscoring the visitors by a wide margin in the first two periods of each matchup. Utica scored five goals and forced a shutout during the first two periods of both contests, but saw the Cougars fight back late in both games, outscoring the Pioneers by a combined total of 6-5 during the third period of both games. Despite these late runs by Chatham, the Pioneers were still able to score and keep them at an arm's length, coming away with the two vital UCHC victories and cementing their spot atop the conference standings, setting up a showdown with Geneseo in early December that will feature two teams tied at the top of the UCHC leaderboards, as both squads currently possess 18 points each and will hold these point totals until next weekend's Teddy Bear Toss tilt.
 
Opening Outbursts: The Pioneers have been otherworldly in the opening 40 minutes of their matches this season, outscoring opponents by a total margin of 14-3 in the first period and 16-7 in the second period. Combined, Utica has scored 30 goals and only allowed 10 during the initial two periods of their games, showing their propensity for getting out to early leads. The Pioneers are outscoring their opponents three goals to one in the first 40 minutes of each matchup, allowing them to create massive gaps with incredible efficiency in all their games this season. It's the third period though, where things start to level out a bit, as the Pioneers hold just a 13-11 edge in goals scored/goals against during the year. Chatham accounted for six of those 11 goals allowed, with their 6 third period scores during last weekend's doubleheader. Although this will be a department the Pioneers will certainly focus on this weekend as they welcome some extremely solid competition to the ADK Bank Center.
 
In The Leaderboards: The Pioneers fierce display of offensive fireworks continued this past weekend, with Division III's top scoring offense racking up another 10 scores towards their total, giving them 43 total goals on the season and keeping them atop the Division III Men's Hockey rankings for total scoring offense. Utica's 43 scores give them a 5.38 goals per game average, with the Pioneers putting up numbers at an insane rate, nearly notching a score for every ten minutes of play.
 
Contributing to those impressive scoring marks is a Pioneer power play that is also in the upper echelon of Division III power play units. The Pioneers have converted 10 of their 24 man-up opportunities, scoring on 42% of their player advantages this season. This mark is good enough to place the Pioneers second in power play conversion rate, with only UMass Dartmouth owning a better power play conversion rate.
 
A major piece of the Pioneer's power play prowess is newcomer Johnny Mulera (Rockville, MD/Salve Regina University (NCAA DIII)), who is tied for second in all of Division III for power play goals, with three man-up goals so far. Mulera has made it his mission to rifle in shots from the left side during the Pioneer power play, finding space on the left side of the offensive zone and utilizing a speedy slapshot to dash other teams' hopes of a penalty kill.
 
Mulera's dominance on the power play has led him to accrue the 30th most points per game in all of Division III as his five goals and six assists have contributed to his 1.38 points per game. Mulera is not alone in the points per game column though, as three other Pioneers also join him within the ranks of the nation's top 50 point-getters. Jakob Breault (Acton Vale, QC/Alaska-Fairbanks (NCAA DI)) is just below Mulera, with his 10 points (four goals, six assists) placing him 38th in all of Division III at 1.25 points per game. Aydin Parekh (Nobleton, ON/Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)) and Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)) round out the Pioneer impact attackers that rank highly for points per game, with Parekh placing 17th, having gathered 12 points (12 assists) and 1.5 points per game along with Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)) who is 13th with 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) and 1.62 points per game.
 
All these numbers have led the Pioneers to become Division III's number 4 team for scoring margin, outscoring their opponents by 2.75 goals per game after their eight contests so far this season.
 
Pioneer Primer: Utica has outshot their opponents by an absurd amount this year, registering 369 shot attempts to only just 180 by their opponents, meaning the Orange and Blue have launched over two times as many attempts as their foes. In addition to the Pioneers outshooting their opponents by 189 total and 24 per game, the Pioneers superior pressure has also caused their opponents to have trouble around goal, as Utica has blocked 62 total shots this year, nearly 35% of their opponents' total attempts. Brian Scoville (Agawam, MA/Alabama-Huntsville (NCAA DI)) and Preston Brighton (Brighton, MI/Amarillo Wranglers (NAHL)) have been primarily responsible for the headaches endured by opposing offenses, as each player has notched 11 blocked shots during the early season.
 
Another area that the Pioneers have excelled in is the faceoff, as the team holds a 64% win rate through all their attempts on the draw this season. The team has been able to record such a high shot total due in large part to their expertise after stoppages, taking 333 of their 522 total faceoff attempts. Breault has been an absolute force on the draw, with the Graduate Center personally owning a 71% faceoff win rate. Breault, last week's UCHC Player of the Week, has captured 139 faceoff wins in 197 total attempts, destroying the opposition all season so far in this integral part of the game.
 
In the Polls: The Pioneers remained at #3 in both the USCHO poll and the DIII Hockey News poll this week, staying steady along with the rest of the top four teams who each held their spot in this week's rankings.
 
Geneseo remained at #4 in both polls, strengthening the possibility of a top 4 matchup taking place during next weekend's New York Sash Teddy Bear Toss. Both Geneseo and Utica face a gauntlet this week, as the Pioneers will see some staunch competition during this week's tournament and Geneseo will welcome a pair of NESCAC foes to the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena in Amherst and Williams. Should both teams reach next weekend with their top 4 rankings intact, they will both be battle tested and ready to go.
 
Oswego State and Stevenson University both suffered some tough defeats during last week's action, with the Lakers losing to Buffalo State and the Mustangs falling in a pair of tight matchups vs Arcadia. Both teams fell out of the DIII Hockey News poll entirely, not receiving any votes, although Oswego still received five votes in this week's USCHO poll. University of New England remained higher up in the votes department, receiving votes in both polls.
 
Delta by Marriott Thanksgiving Showcase Preview: This week's pivotal tournament will begin with a matchup between SUNYAC side Oswego State and former UCHC squad Stevenson.
 
Oswego State: The Lakers are in the midst of a 2024 campaign that's seen them face an array of tough opponents along with some challenging conference competition. Oswego is 3-3-1, but don't let their record fool you, they face four ranked teams to start the season in then #1 Hobart, #10 Elmira, #2 Adrian, and #12 Plattsburgh. The Lakers came out of that gauntlet with a 1-2-1 record, losing to Hobart and Adrian, drawing with Elmira, and blowing out Plattsburgh in a 5-1 decision. Since then, the Lakers have played three conference games, with a 2-1 loss to Buffalo State sandwiched between a couple dominant SUNYAC victories. A majority of that action occurred within the confines of the Deborah F. Stanley Arena in Oswego, as this will be only the second foray away from home for the Lakers this season.
 
Oswego is balanced at the top, with four players tied at the top of their points column at five points each. Travis Baker and Matt McQuade each have three goals and two assists, while Ryan Burke and Jesse Horacek have the inverse, with two goals and three assists each.
 
The Lakers have had a tough time on the power play this year, converting at below a 20% rate, however, they've taken their power play frustrations out on their opponents with a powerful penalty kill that's only allowed two goals in 20 tries.
 
Regardless of whether or not the Pioneers and Lakers meet this weekend, they will match up further down the line as Oswego visits the Adirondack Bank Center on January 10th in the Pioneers' first game back from winter break.
 
Stevenson University: The Mustangs are off to a 4-3-1 start in 2024, a season after falling to the Pioneers in the UCHC Championship, their final game before departing the UCHC for the MAC along with a host of other Pennsylvania-based teams. Stevenson has been a very strong side at home, going 4-0-1 when playing at the Reisterstown Sportsplex including wins over Alvernia and Misericordia. It's been a different story on the road though, as the Mustangs are winless in three tries away from home. Most recently, Stevenson fell in back-to-back 4-3 decisions at Arcadia.
 
The Mustangs are powered on offense by Liam McCanney and Jack Karlsson, who have five and four goals respectively so far this season. Karlsson, who notched an assist during last year's UCHC Final against Utica, also leads the team in points with nine (four goals, five assists).
 
Stevenson averages seven penalty minutes per game, playing a tough, contact style of hockey. Their hard-nosed tactics have sent their opponents to 3.5 power plays per game.
 
University of New England: The Nor'Easters present a familiar foe as Utica's first round opponent in this year's Thanksgiving Showcase, as the two teams met in a couple NCAA Tournament games during the 2023 and 2022 editions of the DIII Playoffs. The Nor'Easters took both of those matchups, with both occurring at the Adirondack Bank Center. The only other time the two teams have met was also in Utica during 2017. The Pioneers will be looking for some major revenge against a Nor'Easter side that is 5-2 so far in the 2024-2025 campaign. UNE started off their season with three unbelievably dominant wins over Plymouth State and Western New England (X2), winning all three games by a 16-0 margin. Since then, the Nor'Easters have gone 2-2, suffering a pair of losses to then #13 Endicott followed by two wins against Suffolk.
 
Dominic Murphy has been the lead man for the Nor'Easters this year, scoring seven goals and ranking fourth in all of Division III for goals per game. Murphy is the engine that powers the Nor'Easters, although he has an excellent squad that supplies fuel, with Anthony Sciucco, Cam Bergeman, Jayden Price, and Drew Olivieri all having four or more assists.
 
UNE likes to get in the way of their opponents' attacks, literally. The Nor'Easters have blocked 94 of their opponents 212 shots, getting in the way of 44% of opposing attempts. UNE spends nearly a fourth of their games on the penalty kill though, as they've spent nearly 15 minutes of every game with a player in the penalty box.
 
After the Delta by Marriott Thanksgiving Showcase: The Pioneers will participate in one more set of matches before they head onto winter break. What a matchup it will be though, as the Pioneers will have their first conference clash with Geneseo next weekend, travelling to the Ira S. Wilson Arena on Friday, December 6th before welcoming the Knights on Saturday for this season's New York Sash Teddy Bear Toss.
 
Tune in this weekend as the Pioneers continue their 2024-2025 campaign with the Delta by Marriott Thanksgiving Showcase!