UTICA, NY – Three members of the Utica College men’s ice hockey team have added yet another set of national honors as part of a busy week of awards. Junior forward Conor Landrigan (New Tripoli, PA/Binghamton Jr. Sens (NAHL)), senior defenseman Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)), and senior goaltender Gianluca Baggetta (Maple, Ontario/North York (OJHL)) have been selected to US College Hockey Online’s All-USCHO Division III teams for the 2019-20 season. The honors were released by the national website based in Minneapolis.
The All-USCHO teams are USCHO’s version of an All-America team, as selected by the website’s staff. All three players are part of the All-USCHO teams for the first time. Landrigan and Fritz were selected to the first team, while Baggetta was an honorable mention pick. The trio led Utica to a program record 25 wins, the UCHC regular season title, and the UCHC tournament title. They were scheduled to play an NCAA Quarterfinal game last Saturday before the cancellation of the tournament.
Landrigan earns the nod after a positively brilliant junior season where he was named the UCHC Co-Player of the Year. He was third in the nation at 1.86 points per game, which stands as a new school record, and did it in just 22 games after missing a lengthy stretch in the first half of the season due to injury. The junior had 41 points on 13 goals and 28 assists. He was 24th in the nation in goals per game(0.59), and finished the year third in assists per game (1.27). Landrigan had the sixth best season in school history in terms of total points, and was three assists away from setting a new single season record at UC.
The Pioneers were 21-0-1 with Landrigan in the lineup this season, and the junior forward went on to record a point in 21 of the 22 games he played. He has an active sixteen game point streak. Landrigan is also a finalist for the Sid Watson National Player of the Year award.
Fritz joins Landrigan on the first team after previously earning UCHC Defensive Player of the Year and All-UCHC First Team honors. The highest scoring defenseman in the nation averaged 1.34 points per game. His points per game average ranked 26th nationally among all skaters. He was third on the squad with 29 points this season, and racked up 11 goals and 28 assists. He was thirteenth nationally with an average of 0.97 assists per game, and ranked ninth in the country with eight power play goals. He led Utica to the sixth best scoring defense mark nationally at just 1.97 goals allowed per game.
Fritz finishes his career tied for the most points ever by a Utica defenseman. In just three seasons, he had 82 points on 20 goals and 62 assists to stand alongside former teammate and 2018 All-American Dalton Carter (Toledo, OH/Northern Cyclones (EHL)) at the top of the college’s career list for points by a blue liner. He has the most career assists of any defenseman to ever play at Utica, and the best points-per-game average of any rearguard to ever wear the blue and orange.
Baggetta joins the fold with his first All-USCHO honor after backstopping Utica through much of its active 20 game winning streak that included an undefeated postseason. The second team All-UCHC pick had the best winning percentage in all of NCAA men’s ice hockey at 90.9 percent, which is also the best winning percentage ever recorded by a Utica starter. The graduate student had a 19-1-2 overall record this season to tie UC’s single season record for goaltending wins, and he was eighteenth in the nation with a goals allowed average of 2.05. He had a save percentage of 92.1 percent.
Baggetta finishes his career with 41 career victories, and seven career shutouts. He is third in career wins, and tied for the lead in career shutouts alongside assistant coach Adam Dekker. With his career finalized, he has set new program standards for career save percentage (93.0 percent), and career goals allowed average (1.87). He was the 2018-19 UCHC Goaltender of the Year and is a two-time All-Conference pick.
