In another powerhouse east vs. west matchup, last year’s Frozen Four participant Utica plays host to five-time national champion St. Norbert with the winner advancing to the final weekend of play. The Pioneers are coming off a comfortable 5-1 first-round win over Fitchburg State while the Green Knights advanced with a 3-1 win over the MIAC champions, Gustavus Adolphus. Both teams have skilled rosters and offensive skills that will challenge team defense and goaltending accordingly.
“We are excited to play one of the Goliaths in D-III college hockey,” noted Utica head coach Gary Heenan. “I have long admired St. Norbert and their head coach Tom Coghlin and his staff. This is a heck of an opportunity for our team. [Logan] Dombrowsky and [Liam] Fraser are special players that we will need to be focused on.”
The Pioneers have shown balance amongst their forwards including the production of graduate students Jakob Breault (15G – 17A – 32 Pts; +22) and Johnny Mulera (16G – 11A – 27 Pts; +16) who leads the team with eight power play goals. Last week’s offensive star, senior Matt Wood (9G – 21A – 30 Pts; +20) has shown big-game performance in last week’s win FSU and will be a presence in front of the Green Knights’ goal challenging the defense and goaltender.
Second semester transfer goaltender Ryan Piros (16G – 1.99 goals-against average – .923 save percentage – 3 shutouts) rebounded from the UCHC championship game loss to Geneseo with a tidy seventeen save, one-goal against performance in last week’s first round game and will need to continue his strong tournament play against a high-powered St. Norbert offense.
Dombrowsky (17G – 33A – 50 Pts), the NCHA Player of the Year and Fraser (21G – 22A – 43 Pts) are dynamic offensively skilled players while conference all-stars, defenseman Dayton Deics (5G – 12A – 17 Pts) and goaltender Hunter Garvey (25 GP – 2.09 goals-against average – .912 save percentage) will be critical elements to the Green Knights producing a big road win to advance to their thirteenth Frozen Four where they have claimed five national championships led by coach Tim Coghlin.
Saturday’s contest is scheduled to be played at 1 PM at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York with the winner advancing to the Frozen Four and a semifinal matchup with the winner of the Hamilton v. Curry quarterfinal game being played later in the day.
