For the past two seasons, the Utica Pioneers have earned a first round bye in the NCAA tournament only to be upset on home ice in successive seasons by the University of New England who captured a pair of Frozen Four berths with the wins. This season, the quarterfinal opponent traveling to Utica is a familiar one from the MASCAC as Plymouth State wrote some new history of their own by defeating Cortland in the opening round for their very first NCAA win. The matchup on Saturday brings a team looking to =continue the new history while Utica seeks to change their past quarterfinal experience with a win that will send them to the Frozen Four.
“They are familiar to us having played in our holiday tournament a couple of seasons ago,” said Utica head coach Gary Heenan. “They have had a lot of success and should be feeling very good about themselves after their win last weekend against a physical Cortland team. We will really need to keep our eye on probably the No. 1 player in the country in Will Redick (27G – 31A – 58 Pts; +36) who may be one of the best, if not the best skaters I have seen at this level. He has eleven power play goals and along with [Ethan] Stuckless (9 PPG) makes it very important for us not to give them opportunities with the power play. The other guy to watch is their goaltender [Kalle] Andersson who is back for them this season, big in the net and definitely has some swagger to his game.”
Utica (22-2-3) enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed having won the UCHC for the third consecutive season. This year’s team plays a different style than past Pioneer squads with a focus on the north-south game vs east-west approach. Seniors Brian Scoville and Kimball Johnson anchor a young defensive group that includes four freshmen in front of goaltender Ethan Roberts. Up front the Pioneers boast a balanced group of scorers that includes Matt Wood, Eric Vitale, Shane Murphy, Jakub Breault and Michael Herrera who all have double-digit goals on the season. The youthful roster has gained a lot of experience over the course of the season with the coaches changing style and approach accordingly.
“Of course, the demons are still there from the past couple of seasons,” stated Heenan. “This is a different team and a different style for us. We are working our third version of week prep before an NCAA game and know as coaches that inside the locker room there is no pressure. These guys are just having fun and we as coaches are trying to stay off the white board accordingly. I think we can draw some parallels in a Stevenson team we faced for the UCHC championship in our preparation here. Both teams have big and dynamic goaltenders, Outen vs. Andersson, who if they can see the puck are going to stop it. Both teams have elite scorers, McCanney vs. Redick, who require you to be aware of their presence on the ice at all times and both teams are deep and disciplined in how they play the game. We had success against the Mustangs and now we will see what happens on Saturday.”
Utica will host Plymouth State at Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium on Saturday, March 16 at 7 PM with the winner advancing to the Frozen Four.
