Utica, NY (November 7, 2014) – The nationally-ranked No. 14 Utica College men’s hockey team opened up ECAC West play Fridaynight and earned a 2-2 overtime tie with Nazareth College in front of a crowd of 3,769 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
UC moves its overall record to 1-0-1 including an 0-0-1 mark in league play while the Golden Flyers are now 1-0-1 overall and 0-0-1 in the conference. The teams are right back on the ice Saturdayas they square off for game two of the weekend set. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m. at “The Aud”.
The home team got on the board first as freshman Anthony McVeigh (Kemptville, Ontario/Carleton Place (CCHL)) netted his first collegiate score just over two minutes into the contest, at 2:13, off a dish from sophomore Easton Powers (South Lyon, MI/Port Huron (NAHL)) to give UC an early 1-0 lead. The Golden Flyers would answer however, at 11:25, tying the game at one apiece as Packy Jones put home his first season goal off a cross from Tom Seravalli to knot the game up headed into the first intermission.
The second period faired quiet for the initial 15 minutes of play until Naz broke away with a short-handed score, at 16:46, off the stick of Tom Seravalli. Naz’s Rocky Gruttadauria assisted on the score to give the visitors a 2-1 edge headed into the final period.
The Pioneers held a 25-20 advantage in the shot column over the first two periods, however struggled on the power-play going 0-5 headed into the final 15 minutes of action.
UC pulled the goalie with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, already with a man up advantage, and finally converted its first power-play goal to send the contest into overtime. UC’sBrent Wold (Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba/Dauphin (MJHL)) netted the equalizer for the Pioneers as they earned the conference opening tie.
The Pioneers are now 5-1-1 all-time versus Naz dating back to the 2012-2013 season when the Golden Flyers added varsity ice hockey and joined the ECAC West Conference. UC has outscored Nazareth 27-8 in its five victories including a 3-0-1 mark at home with a convincing 22-7 margin. The Golden Flyers lone win came last season on Jan. 24th, 2014 by way of a 2-1 overtime defeat in Rochester, NY.
