Utica College Men Win Second Straight Friday

The Utica College men's hockey team won a key ECAC West Conference game on Friday night, a 3-1 victory over rival Neumann.  Utica, ranked No. 15 in the nation, spent most of the game tied 1-1, until the third period at the five minute mark when forward Luc Boby scored the game-winner.  Ridge Garbutt scored an open-net goal with 30 seconds left in the game.

"This is the right time of the season for us to pick up momentum," head coach Gary Heenan told Keeler in the Morning on Friday. "The last few weeks have been a wake up for us and we've actually been playing very well."

The Pioneers improved to 12-5-4 overall and 7-3-1 in conference play. UC currently sits atop the conference standings with 15 points, having played one more conference game than Elmira (second place - 14 points) and Hobart (third place - 13 points). Neumann fell to 7-9-4 overall and 2-6-2 in ECAC West play.

Both teams return to action Saturday night for a 7 p.m. face-off at the Utica Auditorium. The contest is a part of a double-header where the UC women's hockey team will also take on visiting Neumann in the opening game at 4 p.m.