ADRIAN, MI - Less than 24 hours after notching a huge come-from-behind victory over #3 Adrian College, the Pioneers were back at it again in Michigan on Sunday afternoon. This game, in stark contrast to Saturday's showdown, featured a flurry of scoring throughout. Tied at 3-3 in the third period, the Bulldogs broke through, scoring what would be the game-winner and sending the Pioneers to a 5-3 loss despite the visitors being the aggressor over the final 40 minutes.
 
The Pioneers outshot the Bulldogs yet again, sending in 37 shots to the hosts' 30, with a majority of those tallies coming from afar as the Pioneers' looked to cause disarray off of outside attacks throughout the afternoon.
 
Utica also ended the matchup with a major advantage in the faceoff department, winning 52 of the 82 total puck-drops for a 64% faceoff win rate.
 
Jakob Breault (Acton Vale, QC/Alaska-Fairbanks (NCAA DI)) and Chris Carroll (Islip, NY/New Jersey Titans (NAHL)) were quick on the draw during the contest, with Breault securing 24 faceoff wins in 36 tries (67% win rate) and Carroll capturing 11 faceoff wins in 16 attempts (69% win rate)
 
Carroll, Ben Schultheis (Mount Juliet, TN/Ferris State University (NCAA DI)), and Johnny Mulera (Rockville, MD/Salve Regina University (NCAA DIII)) were the Pioneer goal-scorers, with the former two notching their first score of the season while Mulera scored his second goal of the year.
 
Carroll also nabbed an assist, finishing with a two-point day. Brian Scoville (Agawam, MA/Alabama-Huntsville (NCAA DI)), Aydin Parekh (Nobleton, ON/Georgetown Raiders (OJHL)), Matt Wood (Garnet Valley, PA/Richmond Generals (USPHL)), Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI/Shreveport Mudbugs (NAHL)), and Preston Brighton (Brighton, MI/Amarillo Wranglers (NAHL)) gathered the other five assists in the outing. 
 
The Pioneers went down early in the first period, facing a 2-0 deficit during the initial 20 minutes.
 
Utica fought back though, dominating a penalty-ridden second period and pulling themselves back into the contest after outshooting the Bulldogs by a 15-6 margin during the frame. Their superior shooting number led to a pair of second-period scores to send the game to a decisive third period with a score of 3-3.
 
Adrian scored on a weird bounce with eight minutes remaining the game and held onto the lead, finding an empty-net goal to clinch the 5-3 win.
 
Game Summary: Adrian started off with a heightened sense of urgency in Sunday's contest, playing at a much faster pace than they did during yesterday's matchup. The Bulldogs' mission was evident; to put more shots on net than they did in the first meeting, as the Pioneers outshot the hosts by a significant margin in game #1. Adrian's early aggressiveness paid dividends, with Will Bowman sending in a shot from near the blue line to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead.
 
The Sunday edition of the two-game set looked to be a very different style of match than the first outing between the two nationally-ranked powerhouses, with nearly 35 minutes passing in Saturday's contest before a score, compared to only three minutes running off the clock before the first strike in Sunday's game.
 
Nonetheless, the Pioneers faced an early 1-0 deficit, something that didn't faze an experienced Utica squad in yesterday's comeback victory.
 
The Pioneers began to launch a string of successful possessions, holding the puck in the Bulldogs' defensive zone for the next few minutes of play. Utica's second defensive line of Brighton and Schultheis sent a couple shots on from the point, possibly hoping for a redirection from the forwards, but ultimately not finding any significant gaps.
 
The contrast of offensive tactics was evident in the early-going, with the Bulldogs seeking scoring opportunities on the rush and the Pioneers looking to send in shots from the outside and cause chaos in front of the net.
 
The first power play of the game was given to Adrian, who gained a man advantage with about 11 minutes remaining in the first period.
 
Utica, who went four-for-four on the penalty kill yesterday, defended well to start the two-minute minor, but eventually succumbed to a Bulldog power play that struggled mightily during the first matchup, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the opening 20.
 
Wood, who had an assist on a shorthanded score during Saturday's season-opener, nearly produced the Pioneers first big break of the contest with five minutes left in the first, driving down to the back of the net and finding Carroll just in front of the goal. Carroll was stuffed by the Bulldogs' experienced netminder in Dershahn Stewart.
 
The Pioneers immediately built upon their newfound pressure following the chance from Wood, continuing to chuck pucks in from the blue line. It was on a long shot from Schultheis that the Pioneers found their first strike of the match, with the defender scoring the games' third-straight goal from outside as he launched the puck home from the right, cutting the Adrian lead in half at 2-1.
 
No more goals were scored over the remaining five minutes of the first third, with Sturtz snagging a couple glove saves and covering the backside of the net to stuff the Bulldogs' last chance of the period.
 
In Saturday's game, it took 35 minutes for either team to score. On Sunday, there were three scores within the first 15 minutes of play, showcasing how both teams' offenses were starting to settle in and get into a rhythm.
 
Adrian began the second period with a power play, as the Pioneers received a penalty towards the end of the first. Scoville sent a couple pucks out of the zone to drain the clock and secure a penalty kill to begin the second frame.
 
The Pioneers' successful defense was rewarded right away, with the visitors earning their first power play opportunity of the matchup at two minutes of the second period. Utica fired in many shots from the outside, but nothing was doing for the Orange and Blue as their advantage time ran out, bringing the matchup back to even strength with 15 minutes remaining in the second.
 
Despite the Pioneers gameplan seeming to revolve around the outside shot, it was a wrap-around shot from Carroll that brought the game level at two goals apiece. Carroll corralled a Scoville pass off the boards and lost his defender behind the net, placing a shot right past the outstretched pad of the Bulldog keeper Stewart to bring the game to 2-2.
 
Dueling penalties after the equalizer from Carroll saw play restart in a 4-on-4, however a quick penalty on Adrian sent the action to a rare 4-on-3 advantage for Utica.
 
The Pioneers wasted no time with the unusual advantage, with Mulera rocketing a puck into the upper region of the net to give the Pioneers their first lead of the game at 3-2. A couple swing passes from Parekh and Morse led to the open chance from Mulera, who scored his second goal of the season in as many games.
 
It was Utica's turn in the box directly following the score from Mulera, with the Bulldogs looking for their first opportunity during a second period that had been absolutely dominated by the Pioneers up until that point.
 
Adrian scored right back just seconds into the power play, notching their third score from the left side of the blue line to knot the game at 3 goals each just after the midway point of the contest. Roberts entered the net after this score by the Bulldogs.
 
The score remained 3-3 after a second period stuffed to the brim with penalties, as the Pioneers endured six penalty minutes and the Bulldogs amassed an insane 18 minutes of penalty time in the second frame alone.
 
End-to-end action encompassed the beginning of the third frame, with both teams upping the ante as the weekend series was nearing its conclusion. Massive hits and fast action were prevalent through the first half of the deciding 20-minutes, with both teams rarely enjoying a sustained possession and instead turning on the jets in search of a late highlight to seal the proceedings.

Adrian broke through with about eight minutes remaining, finding a bouncing puck in the middle of the zone and putting the shot into the upper-left of the goal, re-taking the lead at 4-3 and placing the Pioneers into a similar position to the one they found themselves in on Saturday.
 
Utica controlled possession for the next six minutes, in search of another equalizer to potentially force an extra period. Roberts was pulled with around two minutes remaining in the final period, as the Pioneers mounted a final offensive at Arrington Ice Arena. The visitors won faceoff-after-faceoff in the Bulldog defensive zone, wreaking havoc in front of goal but seeing some bad bounces halt their momentum. Adrian found one such bounce near the blue line, slotting an empty net goal and escaping with a 5-3 win in the second of the weekend's two matchups.
 
Utica will leave Adrian with a record of 1-1-0 after an exciting weekend of high-profile hockey. The Pioneers will begin their UCHC schedule next weekend with a home-and-home against Nazareth University. Friday's game against the Golden Flyers will be played in Rochester at 7:00 PM, with the Pioneers returning home to the Adirondack Bank Center the following day at 7:00 PM.