No. 1 Men's Hockey Wins its Ninth in a Row to Stay Unbeaten in UCHC Play – Utica University Athletics

ROCHESTER, NY – The No. 1 Utica University men’s hockey team completed its home-and-home sweep of the Nazareth College Golden Flyers with a 4-1 road win on Saturday evening. 

 

The win moved the Pioneers to 14-0-0 in conference play while extending its lead in the standings to 10 points. 

 

Dante Zapata (Huntington Beach, CA/Austin Bruins (NAHL)) put together a three point performance in the win as the captain assisted on three of four Utica goals. He also controlled 13 of 22 faceoffs he took. The four goals also came from four different players in Khristian Acosta (Port Monmouth, NJ/Mercyhurst University (NCAA DI)), Jayson Dobay (Weymouth, MA/Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)), Mic Curran (Arlington, MA/Curry College (CCC)) and Jakob Breault (Acton Vale, QC/Alaska-Fairbanks (NCAA DI)). 

 

In goal, Bryan Landsberger (Montreal, Quebec/Nepean Raiders (CCHL)) saved 17 of 18 Golden Flyer shots including all six Nazareth power play attempts. 

 

Nazareth found itself in front midway through the first period on its fourth shot on goal of the frame at 11:40. Despite four shots and a power play thereafter, the Pioneers found themselves in a 1-0 deficit entering the second period. 

 

However, the team came out of the intermission with a spark as Acosta evened the game at 1:11 of the second thanks to a feed by Connor Fedorek (Bethel Park, PA/Ferris State University (NCAA DI)). The game remained even at 1-1 until Dobay gave Utica its first lead of the evening on a power play goal at 14:25 with Lucas Herrmann (Elma, NY/University of New Hampshire (NCAA DI)) and Zapata on the assists. The game would go into the final period with the Pioneers still ahead, 2-1. 

 

Not even one minute into the third, Curran extended the team’s lead to 3-1 while just over two minutes later, Breault put the finishing touches on the game with a power play goal at 3:03 to help lift Utica to its ninth straight win. 

 

The Pioneers held the Golden Flyers to 12 shots over the final two periods while also fending off the hosts on each of their four man-up advantages. 

 

No. 1 Utica (16-2-1, 14-0-0 UCHC) will return home next weekend for its final home series of the regular season. The Pioneers begin a two-game set against King’s College on Friday, February 3 for AmeriCU Night with puck drop set for 7 p.m. from the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

 

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