UTICA, NY – The Utica College men’s hockey team announced its captains for the 2017-18 season on Tuesday. Seniors Brett Szajner (Novi, MI/Amarillo (NAHL)) and Mikhail Bushinski (Woodbury, MN/Kenai River (NAHL)) were named captains while classmates Kevin Valenti (Queensbury, NY/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) and Vince Stefan (Pittsburgh, PA/Kenai River (NAHL)) were named alternate captains.
Utica advanced to its third conference tournament title game in the last four years this past Winter and they have now appeared in five conference tournament championship games in the program’s 16-year history. The Pioneers have won three conference regular season titles in the last five seasons and they also led the nation in home attendance for the 11th consecutive season in 2016-17.
Szajner has spent the past two seasons as an alternate captain for the Pioneers. He has played in 63 games on the defensive end, recording seven goals and 17 assists. Bushinski has 63 career games under his belt and he has 34 career points (10 goals, 24 assists). He is coming off a career-high 19 point season.
Valenti is the Pioneers active leading scorer with 55 career points in 81 games played. Last season he finished second on the team with 25 points on 10 goals and 15 assists. Stefan, an all-conference second team pick this past Winter, had a breakout season in 2016-17 as he totaled a career-high 19 points from the defensive end. He has now played in 79 career games and has 36 points (10 goals, 26 assists).
The Pioneers will participate in the newly formed United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) this upcoming season. The league structure includes nine men’s teams: Elmira College (NY), King’s College (PA), Lebanon Valley College (PA), Manhattanville College (NY), Neumann University (PA), Stevenson University (MD), Nazareth College (NY), Utica College (NY) and Wilkes University (PA).
