ASTON, PA - The No. 7 Utica University men's hockey team blanked the hosting Neumann University Knights 5-0 on Saturday evening. 
 
Five different players notched a goal in the contest in Shane Murphy, Drake Morse, Kimball Johnson, Andrew Della Rovere and Khristian Acosta. Della Rovere added two assists to his line to have a team leading three points. Domenick Evtimov, Eric Vitale, John Gutt, Nicolas Haviar and Morse also had assists. 
 
In goal, Ethan Roberts earned his seventh win and second shutout of the year with a 17-save performance. 
 
The Pioneers outshot the knights 78-24 overall and 53-17 on goal. Each side committed six penalties in the game, with Utica coming through on one power play, while the Pioneers won 31 of 58 faceoffs. Michael Herrera led the unit with 11 wins on the dot followed by Della Rovere with seven and Chris Carroll with six. 
 
Utica had at least one goal in each period in the game, including a red-hot, three-goal first period. 
 
Roughly 7:30 into the first period, Stevenson's Tyler Kennedy was nailed for a tripping call, setting the Pioneers up on their first power play of the night. While on it, Della Rovere and Evtimov connected with Acosta, who buried it at 7:59 for a 1-0 edge. 
 
As the period wound down, Della Rovere went from an assist to scoring one of his own. The freshman scored at 17:17 while two minutes later, Johnson sent in his first goal since November to open the game up to 3-0 entering intermission. 
 
Following a slow start to the second, Morse extended Utica's lead with 4:23 left in the period off an assist from Haviar. Then in a third, Murphy put the finishing touches on the contest with his second goal of the season at 9:09. Roberts was able to stop all seven of Neumann's third period shots to capture the shutout and secure the win. 
 
Utica (10-2-3, 9-0-1 UCHC) will return home next weekend for a pair of games against Lebanon Valley College. The teams will play at the Utica University Nexus Center at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 19 before heading next door to the Adirondack Bank Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 20. 

Tickets for both games can be purchased through https://empirestatetix.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=UCP&linkID=utica&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=.