ASTON, PA - The No. 3 Utica College men's ice hockey team started off the second half of conference play on the right foot on Friday. The Pioneers put together a strong start with three first period goals, were boosted by a hat trick performance from graduate forward Brett Everson, and got a tremendous power play effort with a six goal outing as they rolled past host Neumann University by an 11-3 score in a United Collegiate Hockey Conference game in Aston, Pennsylvania.
Utica improved to 12-2 overall, and 8-0 in the UCHC with a perfect 24 standings points. The win was their fifth straight, and they are now 4-0 this year on the road. Neumann falls to 6-7-1 overall.
The Pioneers out-shot the Knights by a 50-17 count. Six power play goals is a season-high, doubling the previous best. Neumann scored two power play goals to become the first team to score on Utica's penalty kill since Adrian scored two man-advantage goals on Halloween night. Friday's scoring output marks the third time this year that UC has scored ten or more goals, and eleven goals is the team's second highest single-game total of the campaign.
Everson finished with three goals and an assist for his first career hat trick. Jayson Dobay added four assists. Cameron Patton, Remy Parker, and Mattias Dal Monte scored their first regular season goals as Pioneers. Justin Allen had a goal and three assists, while Dante Zapata added three helpers, and John Moncovich logged two goals and an assist.
Sean Dickson and Louis-Felix St. Jean combined with fourteen saves to earn the win.
Utica put their penalty kill to work early on a John Moncovich holding penalty, but the Pioneers were undeterred in getting off to a fast start. At 4:35 of the first period, Moncovich netted his thirteenth goal of the season in a thrilling display of hand-eye coordination. Moments after Osmundson was turned away on a scoring chance set up by Curran, Blake Holmes let a shot go from the right point, which was deflected in mid-air by Osmundson. Moncovich batted it into the back of the cage for a 1-0 lead.
Buster Larsson took advantage of Utica's first power play chance of the night at 13:02. The veteran forward puffed the back of the net from the left circle to extend his goal-scoring streak to five straight games and give Utica a 2-0 lead.
The power play fireworks continued to obtain a 3-0 lead at 15:45. Justin Allen scored his sixth goal of the season, with Brett Everson and Regen Cavanagh picking up the assists. Neumann would get on the scoreboard with a shout before the buzzer as Nick Martino scored a power play goal with seven seconds left, but the Pioneers were in command by a 3-1 score after the first period.
In some cases, a goal in the dying seconds of a period can change a game's complexion in favor of the scoring team. The Pioneers did not allow that to happen. Instead, they turned in an six goal offensive explosion over the course of the second period. Brett Everson scored twice, while Moncovich added a second goal, Regen Cavanagh scored his ninth goal of the season, and Mattias Dal Monte and Remy Parker scored their first regular season intercollegiate goals as Utica waltzed away to a 9-1 lead after two periods.
The third period was even-handed, with two goals each. Brady Mistler and Dillon Manchester scored for the Knights, while Cameron Patton scored his first goal as a Pioneer and Everson finished off his hat trick with 2:29 left as UC finished off an 11-3 win.
The Pioneers will square off with Manhattanville on Saturday in a UCHC game. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. in Rye, NY.