UTICA, NY -- The nationally-ranked Utica College men's hockey team rallied from an early 2-0 deficit and defeated visiting Nazareth College 3-2 in overtime in game two of the UCHC Tournament Semifinals on Sunday afternoon at the Adirondack Bank Center.  UC's Daniel Fritz netted the game's final two goals, including the game-winning empty netter, to help lift the Pioneers to the 2-0 series victory over the Golden Flyers.

The Pioneers will now host the UCHC Conference Tournament Championship series against visiting Manhattanville College next Saturday (7 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.) at the Adirondack Bank Center.  Tickets are now on sale at the Aud Box Office. 

Utica, the reigning UCHC Tournament champions, is advancing to the conference championship series for the fourth consecutive season. The Pioneers (19-6-2) are unbeaten in their last 11 games, and are now 15-1-2 in their last 18 games following a 4-5 start to the season. The Pioneers are 26-3-2 on home ice over the course of the last two seasons. Utica is 12-2-1 and outscoring opponents 67-18 in home games this season.

Utica senior captain Gregg Burmaster lit up the Aud and got the crowd on its feet when he worked to dig the puck out of a scrum before skating to the net and delivering a back-handed top shelf goal to cut the Pioneers deficit in half, 2-1, just before the end of the second period. Tyler Pietrowski and Tyler Dill were each credited with an assist on the key Pioneer goal.

Fritz then knotted the score at 2-2 when he popped the Gatorade bottle over the shoulder of Naz goalie Sean Kuhn 6:29 into the third period of play.  Burmaster and Shawn Lynch were each credited with an assist on the game-tying goal.  Burmaster is now just the fifth player in program-history to score 40+ points in a single season. His 18 goals this season are tied for third all-time in UC's single season record book and his 23 assists are tied for fifth all-time.

Both teams were held scoreless in the final 13 minutes of regulation and the Pioneers headed to the OT period needing just a tie to advance after jumping out to a 1-0 series lead on Saturday night.

In the five minute overtime period the Golden Flyers – needing a victory to send the series to a mini game -- were forced to pull the goalie and that's when Fritz was able to secure the OT win with an empty netter.  Zach Borsoi and Burmaster earned assists on the game's final goal.

Naz jumped out to a 1-0 first period lead behind a goal from the near side blue line after a shot on net by Cody Antonini slipped through several defenders and snuck past UC goalie Gianluca Baggetta.  The visitors held a 12-7 lead in shots through one period of play. 

Alex Corvi gave the Golden Flyers a 2-0 advantage early in the second period off an assist from Zander Pryor. 
 
UC's Baggetta stopped 31 shots in the victory, while Sean Kuhn made 34 saves for Naz as his record fell to 5-6-5 overall on the season.  The Pioneers went 1-for-3 on the power-play and outshot Nazareth 37-33 on the afternoon. 
 
Utica has not lost a UCHC home game since the first one they played under the UCHC name on November 11th, 2017, a loss to Elmira. The Pioneers are 17-0-1 in the eighteen games they've played since against conference opposition.

Utica is now 12-5-5 all-time against Nazareth. Naz caps its 2019 season with a 12-9-7 overall record.