UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's hockey team is yet again in the drivers' seat to possibly win a second consecutive UCHC conference tournament championship and for the first time in years, advance to the NCAA tournament.
It was not always easy, as Manhattanville scored on the opening shift of the game and any high pressure offense was kept to a minimum for over thirty minutes, save for Brad Becker's tying goal at 15:11 of the first. The status quo changed drastically late in the second period for what became another resilient Utica effort.
With the game tied at one and the energy of the game up for grabs, Utica found their attacking legs late in the final 2:12 of second period on a pair of power play goals to take the lead at 3-1. The Valiants pulled back within a goal, but the top-seeded Pioneers scored twice more late in the third to polish off a 5-2 win over third-seeded Manhattanville at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Utica takes a 1-0 series lead and needs a win or tie to claim the championship on Sunday. Game 2 is scheduled for 2 pm Sunday. Manhattanville needs a win to survive and force the series into a winner-take-all minigame. The winner of the series is the 2019 UCHC Champion and for the first time, will be the UCHC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III tournament. Utica is seeking its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2013 when they made the field as an at-large. Utica also moves up to tenth in the NCAA Pairwise Rankings that will be used to select and seed the tournament field.
The Pioneers are now 20-6-2 on the campaign and run their winning streak to eight, and their unbeaten streak to twelve straight games. The Pioneers will set a new team record for games played with their 29th appearance on Sunday and can also tie a school record with a 21st win.
Gianluca Baggetta turned in a show-stopping performance in the Utica net with a 37 save performance. He is unbeaten in his last 16 starts. Utica captain Gregg Burmaster had a goal and two assists to improve his season total to 44 total points, which is a new single season senior class record at Utica and the second-most points in a season in program history. Defenseman Zach Borsoi started the game, and as he did, he became Utica's career record holder in games played with 109. Tyler Dill had a pair of assists, and Jamie Bucell added a goal and an assist for the Pioneers.
A veteran-laden Manhattanville side got the jump on the Pioneers off the opening faceoff as they rapidly grabbed a 1-0 lead. Just under 30 seconds into the game, Ryan Jackson took a shot that caromed off a player in front of the net and out to a waiting Cory Anderson, who slipped the puck into the left side of the net for a 1-0 advantage.
The Valiants largely had the advantage in the opening frame as they outshot Utica 13-6, but that didn't stop the Pioneers from getting the important tying goal before the twenty minute mark. Neither did the class standing of the players who got the job done against a senior-laden side. Freshman Tyler Dill centered a puck from below the goal line that appeared to be intended for long time teammate Nick Yzaguirre. The pass got behind his freshman classmate, but fellow rookie Brad Becker stepped in down the middle in support of the play, hunted down the puck and mashed it behind Manhattanville netminder Tyler Feaver for his second career goal. The score was 1-1 after one period of play.
The Pioneers continued to search for their legs for much of the second period, and deja vu just seemed to strike all over again for Utica as they had another late second period offensive epiphany that changed the course of the game. Penalties would be the undoing of the Valiants against a surging Utica power play. Conor Landrigan marked on the power play for a third time in the last four games following a minor penalty to Manhattanville's Nigel Slade, as the sophomore floated the puck over Feaver to put Utica in front at 17:48.
At just past the 18 minute mark, the Valiants were ticketed again for roughing, and the Pioneers struck paydirt a second time. At 19:33, Tyler Pietrowski hammered in a chance created by Tyler Dill and the Pioneers left a hard-fought second period up 3-1. There was a brief skirmish after the second period that saw penalties assessed to both squads.
The Pioneers began the third period on a power play as they received the lesser of the five minor penalties out of that exchange, but did not capitalize on their third consecutive attempt in the special teams stretch. Shortly after at 4:40 of the third, Jared Martin hit the net for Manhattanville to trim the score back to 3-2, but the Pioneers would not be denied.
Jamie Bucell restored a two goal lead when Gregg Burmaster received the puck in close quarters from Conor Landrigan, who quickly moved it to a wide open Bucell, and the sophomore did the rest to make the score 4-2. With the net empty late and Manhattanville pushing, the Pioneers got additional relief from Burmaster as he scored on the empty net to finalize the 5-2 score. Burmaster has been involved in all eight empty net goals Utica has scored this year.
The Pioneers meet the Valiants in game two on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at EmpireStateTix.com.