ELMIRA, NY - The #8 Pioneers traveled to the southern tier of New York on Friday night to renew a rivalry with old ECAC West foe Elmira. During the contest, the team battled some early adversity, but used a three-goal second period to push past the spoiler-minded Soaring Eagles by a 6-4 final.

The hard-fought road victory saw the Pioneers keep up their two-month tear, improving to 15-5 on the season and keeping their perfect UCHC record intact at 11-0. Elmira fell to 4-15-1, also dropping to 2-8-1 in conference play.

The Pioneers outshot their opposition 36-28 and won the faceoff battle, taking 48 of 78 possible draws. 
 
After an opening score by the Pioneers, Elmira would respond with two goals to enter the first intermission with a 2-1 edge. A power play score courtesy of captain Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI) would get the Pioneers back on track, as the team proceeded to score twice more before the midway point of the matchup to take a 4-2 lead. The two teams would trade goals throughout the rest of the matchup, as each team struck twice more to bring the game to its final score of 6-4

Three Stars: 

First Star - Anthony Bax (Parkhill, Ontario): Bax managed to rack up a team-high three points in the outing, scoring once and assisting twice to end with a +3. The sophomore forward was involved in all three of the final Pioneer goals, netting the fourth score while assisting on the game-winner to John Gutt (Middletown, NJ) and the empty net clincher by Eric Vitale (Toronto, Ontario). Bax managed to raise his season totals to two goals and 10 assists. 

Second Star - John Gutt (Middletown, NJ): Gutt notched the game-winner in Friday's matchup, sending away a Bax pass at the back post to make it 5-3 and grab the decisive score. Gutt continued his recent point streak, now having scored or assisted at least one time in each of the Pioneers' last eight games. To cap off the stellar performance, Gutt captured 10 of 16 faceoffs, helping get the Pioneers set up for success. The Senior forward kept up his spectacular senior year, now having 11 goals, 12 assists, and 23 points. 

Third Star - Jagur McClelland (Havertown, PA): Freshman forward Jagur McClelland (Havertown, PA) was outstanding in the Pioneers' 6-4 win over the Soaring Eagles, grabbing two points thanks to a goal and an assist in the matchup. The orange and blue rookie also nabbed the first goal of his collegiate career, giving the Pioneers a 3-2 lead in the second period of the matchup.

Junior forward Eric Vitale (Toronto, Ontario) slotted in as the final Pioneer with multiple points in the matchup, grabbing a goal and an assist. Drake Morse (Grand Rapids, MI) and Alexander Gullichsen (Turku, Finland) scored the first two goals. Mathieu MacMillan (Ottawa, Ontario), Aidan Hughes (Mississauga, Ontario), Preston Brighton (Castle Rock, CO), and Andrew Della Rovere (Caledon East, Ontario) also each nabbed an assist to round out the point-getters for the Pioneers. 

Frank Murphy (Mississauga, Ontario) got yet another win in net, making 24 saves en route to his sixth win in a row. 

The Pioneers will be back in Utica tomorrow night to complete the season series with the Soaring Eagles. That game will get underway at 7:00 PM over at the Utica University Nexus Center.