UTICA, NY - The Adirondack Bank Center was active ahead of schedule this week, as the No. 2 Utica Pioneers engaged in a midweek UCHC contest on Thursday night against the challenging Nazareth Golden Flyers. Drake Morse drove home three scores to upend the Pioneers' UCHC opponent, solidifying a 5-4 victory to keep their spot among the conference elite.
Morse was the man of the hour during the crucial UCHC clash, not only picking up a career-high goals mark but also adding two assists during the action to come away with an incredible five-point night. Morse had a hand in every score during the proceedings, as none of the Pioneers five goals were complete without some sort of mark from the Michigan man.
Morse wasn't a complete one man army though, as his running mate Jakob Breault managed to match his point total, also ending Thursday's tilt with five points on the back of one goal and an otherworldly four assists.
Breault and Morse were involved in every single Pioneer score on Thursday night, with each player either netting or assisting on all of the home team's five scores to showcase a dominant one-line wrecking crew that ran rampant over the Golden Flyers all evening.
Captain Brian Scoville slotted in as the final goal scorer, nabbing a tally thanks to his powerful slapshot that got the Pioneers out to a 2-0 lead early in the matchup. The big defensemen also added an apple to finish with two points on the night.
Eric Vitale and Ben Schultheis also each nabbed playmakers to round out the point-getters for the Pioneers, with Vitale getting a pair of assists and Schultheis adding one assist.
The Pioneers encountered two power plays during the competition, with both coming in the first period, but failed to capitalize on either opportunity due in large part to the absence of last week's premier weapon Johnny Mulera, who missed Thursday's matchup after scoring on the advantage in both of the Pioneers' outings last week against Manhattanville.
Nazareth had one more player-up opportunity than the hosts, experiencing three power play opportunities over the course of the game. The Golden Flyers whiffed on the first two spells thanks to a sturdy defensive set spearheaded by goaltender Ryan Piros along with the supervision of some spectacular veterans in Scoville and Schultheis
After a first period which saw the hosts outshoot the Golden Flyers by an outrageous 16-3 margin, the shots were much more level, with the Pioneers still holding a 38-29 edge by match's end.
The Pioneers were in total control during that opening period of play, not breaking the ice immediately but still spending a significant swath of time within the Golden Flyer defensive zone. Eventually, Morse and Scoville found the back of the net in quick succession to spawn a 2-0 lead for Division III's #2 ranked team heading into the first intermission.
Nazareth fought back in the second though, as longtime skipper George Roll cooked up a competitive game plan to allow the Golden Flyers an opportunity to sneak back into the proceedings. The visitors had the better share of play during the second period, taking advantage of some Pioneer miscues to equalize the game at two apiece. Some late period heroics by Morse and Breault would re-establish the hosts' lead though, as they both struck almost simultaneously, scoring within 15 seconds of each other to give Utica a 4-2 lead going into the second break.
Once again, like they had been doing in all their previous games against ranked competition, Nazareth clawed their way back, scoring early in the third period to halve their deficit, now seeing the score read 4-3 Utica. With the Golden Flyers knocking, Morse answered the call as he took advantage of a scrum in front of the net to achieve his hat trick and nearly put the game out of reach.
Some late game shenanigans caused the Pioneers to suffer a brutal 3-on-6 passage of play towards the end of the matchup, seeing Nazareth score to bring it within one, but managing to cement the victory thanks to some huge clearances by Matt Wood during the final 30 seconds to keep the Golden Flyer goaltender from being able to vacate his post and give the visitors a pseudo-advantage.
The Pioneers grabbed their fourth-straight victory to open 2025 with the win, keeping pace with Geneseo atop the UCHC.
The Pioneers improved to 13-2-1 and 9-1-1 against UCHC opponents. They'll head to Rochester on Saturday to complete their fourth and final regular season contest against Nazareth
Scoring Summary:
1st | 17:22 |
Morse (Breault, Scoville) - 1-0 Utica
1st | 17:48 |
Scoville (Breault, Morse) - 2-0 Utica
2nd | 19:36 |
Breault (Schultheis, Morse) - 3-2 Utica
2nd | 19:47 |
Morse (Breault, VItale) - 4-2 Utica
3rd | 11:22 |
Morse (Breault, Vitale) - 5-3 Utica