UTICA, NY — The fifth seeded Utica College men’s hockey team will travel to fourth seeded Elmira College for the quarterfinals of the ECAC Men’s West Conference Tournament on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Tickets at Elmira’s Murray Athletic Center Ice Arena will be $5 for adults and $3 for students.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The Pioneers have played in 14 ECAC Men’s Conference Tournament games dating back to 2004… Utica last played Elmira in the post season last year in the conference tournament championship game, falling 5-2 at home … UC is 1-2 all-time against Elmira in playoff games … Utica defeated the Soaring Eagles in the semifinals of the conference tournament back on March 4, 2005 by the score of 4-3 in double overtime … Wednesday’s contest marks the first time these two teams have met in a playoff game at the Murray Athletic Center Ice Arena … The Pioneers have advanced to the finals of the conference tournament three times (2005, 2006, and 2014) in program-history.
REGULAR SEASON PLAY: The Pioneers head into the playoffs with an 11-9-5 overall record … This marks the 10th season that Utica has secured a .500 record or better in program history… UC has also had a winning record in eight of the last 10 seasons… This season marks the 13th time that the Pioneers have won at least 11 games in a single season dating back to the program’s inception back in 2001.
UC VS. ELMIRA: Since the 2004-05 season, UC is 11-18-5 against Elmira … Utica is 5-5-0 when facing Elmira over the last three seasons … The last three regular season games between the two rivals were all decided by one goal … The Pioneers last game against the Soaring Eagles finished in a 2-1 overtime loss on February 14th at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
ALL-CONFERENCE PICKS: Senior forward Louie Educate (Chicago, IL/Aberdeen (NAHL)) and freshman defender Dalton Carter (Toledo, OH/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) were named to ECAC Men’s West All-Conference teams released Tuesday afternoon. … Educate was named to the second team as a forward while Carter earned second team status and all-rookie team honors as a defender.
SENIOR SCORER: Educate recently made his second career appearance on an ECAC West All-Conference team after earning first team status and player of the year honors as a sophomore … He finished the regular season ranked fifth in the conference with 24 points on 11 goals and 13 assists … His 11 goals are tied for third in the conference … Educate also posted 12 power-play points this season (fourth in the conference) and led the league with four game-winning goals … Over the course of four collegiate seasons he has played in 107 career games and posted 120 points (62 goals, 58 assists).
ALL-ROOKIE TEAM: Dalton Carter (Toledo, OH/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) burst on the collegiate scene with 11 points in his first six games and continued his strong play on the defensive end for the rest of the regular season en route to earning all-conference second team status and all-rookie team honors … He finished the year ranked second on the team with 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) … He ranked second in the league in defensemen scoring and second in the league in rookie scoring … He also finished the regular season as the highest scoring freshman defender in the nation.
BEEN THERE BEFORE: Utica will look to its upperclassmen for leadership throughout its playoff push … Assistant captains Justin Hogan (Val Therese, Ontario/Brooks Bandits (AJHL)) and Joel Wetmore (Horseheads, NY/Lindsay (OJHL)) finished the regular season ranked fourth and fifth on the team in scoring … Hogan tied for second on the team with 13 assists while Wetmore totaled 14 points on five goals and nine assists … Senior captain Mike Baird (Oakville, Ontario/Huntsville (OJHL)) will lead the Pioneers defensive unit with 91 career games played (34 career points).
ALL IS WELL(S): Junior goalie Dylan Wells (Nashville, TN/Bonnyville (AJHL)) leads the team and is third in the conference with a .921 save percentage … Wells is also second in the conference in both goals against average (2.39) and winning percentage (.618).
MEET THE SOARING EAGLES: Elmira finished the year with an 11-11-3 overall record and a 5-8-2 record in conference play… The Soaring Eagles are led by a trio of juniors in Jarryd ten Vaanholt (34 points, 12 goals, 22 assists), Greg Whittle (25 points, eight goals, 17 assists), and Tommy Sumi (25 points, eight goals, 17 assists)… ten Vaanholt was recently named the ECAC West Player of the Year … Elmira uses a two goalie system that includes senior Ryan deMelo and sophomore Sal Magliocco… deMelo leads the team in goals against average (2.84) and save percentage (.924) while posting a 5-7-1 record… Magliocco has a 3.30 goals against average and a .908 save percentage to go along with a 6-4-2 record.
LIVE OPTIONS: The Elmira Athletics Communications office will provide live stats and live video for Wednesday night’s match up between the soaring Eagles and the Pioneers… Live stats can be followed at http://www.sidearmstats.com/elmira/mhockey/ … Live video can be accessed at athletics.elmira.edu/watch/.
