ROCHESTER, NY - The United Collegiate Hockey Conference is pleased to recognize the accomplishments of numerous talented student-athletes in advance of this weekend’s championships with the release of the 2018-19 All-UCHC teams and UCHC major award winners. This year’s honorees shaped and defined the course of the conference’s young history as the UCHC completed its second regular season in 2018-19. Award winners were selected by the league’s coaches.
For the first time, the conference features co-players of the year as Manhattanville senior forward Matt Lippa and Elmira junior forward Connor Powell took home top honors.
Lippa guided the way forward for a veteran-laden Manhattanville squad to peak at the right time, as they sport a record of 16-7-5 going into this weekend’s championship and placed third in the UCHC standings. The Valiants hold the seventh-longest unbeaten streak in the nation, a streak that landed them the third seed in the tournament and brought them to this weekend’s championship. Lippa has seventeen goals and twenty four assists for 41 points this season, and ranked in the top 25 nationally in goals per game, assists per game, and points per game. He led the UCHC in total power play points.
Powell led Elmira this season with 23 goals. He is currently tied for second in the nation in goals, and is fourth in goals per game nationally at 4.85. He is 24th in the nation at 1.33 points per game and was tied for ninth nationally with seven power play goals. He scored 19 of his goals in conference play.
The conference’s Defensive Player of the Year is JR Wojciechowski of Nazareth. He was fifth in the conference in defenseman scoring in conference play at 0.89 points per game, and totaled four goals and twelve assists for sixteen points in UCHC games. The Golden Flyers were second in the conference in scoring defense at 2.50 goals allowed per game.
The UCHC Goaltender of the Year is Utica’s Gianluca Baggetta. Baggetta has not lost in fifteen straight appearances while backstopping Utica to this weekend’s championship final. He is now 15-3-2 overall, and posted a conference record of 10-1-1, the best save percentage in conference play (.953) of any goaltender in the conference membership since the 2010-11 season, and a league-best 1.44 GAA against UCHC competition. He is fourth in the nation with a .944 save percentage, fourth in the country in goals against average at 1.62, and is tied for the school record with three shutouts.
The UCHC Rookie of the Year is Wilkes University’s Donald Flynn. Flynn helped the Colonels hit the ground running in their inaugural season, and they darted right into regular season championship contention before finishing fourth. Flynn was the top offensive producer for the Colonels with 37 points on fourteen goals and 23 assists, and led the nation in points per game by a freshman.
Brett Riley of Wilkes University was named the UCHC Men’s Coach of the Year earlier this week. The full list of honorees is below.
2019 UCHC Men's Major Awards
UCHC Co-Player of the Year: Connor Powell, Elmira
UCHC Co-Player of the Year: Matt Lippa, Manhattanville
UCHC Defensive Player of the Year: JR Wojciechowski, Nazareth
UCHC Goaltender of the Year: Gianluca Baggetta, Utica
UCHC Rookie of the Year: Donald Flynn, Wilkes
Coach of the Year: Brett Riley, Wilkes
First Team All-UCHC
Forward: Brett Johnson, Lebanon Valley
Forward: Connor Powell, Elmira
Forward: Gregg Burmaster, Utica
Forward: Matt Lippa, Manhattanville
Defense: Marco Ferraro, Manhattanville
Defense: Oscar Arfelt, Manhattanville
Goaltender: Gianluca Baggetta, Utica
Second Team All-UCHC
Forward: Matthew Cuce, Elmira
Forward: Nick Ford, Elmira
Forward: Donald Flynn, Wilkes
Defense: JR Wojciechowski, Nazareth
Defense: Zach Borsoi, Utica
Goaltender: Sean Kuhn, Nazareth
Men’s All-Rookie Team
Forward: Donald Flynn, Wilkes
Forward: Tyler Barrow, Wilkes
Forward: Regen Cavanagh, Utica
Defense: Justin Allen, Utica
Defense: Matthew Cousino, Elmira
Goaltender: Brandon Gordon, Wilkes