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UTICA — As the inaugural season for the Wilkes men’s ice hockey team approached its final game of the regular season, the Colonels looked to pick up a win and put themselves into second place in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC).
However, the Colonels’ final game came against Utica, the UCHC’s top team. Wilkes needed to not only win but Elmira to lose or tie with Chatham.
Ultimately the Colonels fell 4-2 in front of a huge crowd that filled the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, N.Y.
“I’m really proud of the way our guys played,” Wilkes head coach Brett Riley said. “Down 4-1, we had a choice to make and they chose to fight back.”
Wilkes came into the game looking to limit their time in the penalty box. But the Colonels were unable to as they took multiple penalties in the first two periods, resulting in goals or momentum shifts for the Pioneers.
Utica scored the only goal in the first period and the third period was scoreless.
The game quickly escalated between the two teams and it was clear both sides did not like each other. Utica came out throwing body checks and frustrating Wilkes in an attempt to find room on the offensive end.
Wilkes’ Tyson Araujo scored the first goal on a power play in the second period, but Donald Flynn took an unsportsmanlike penalty for the Colonels immediately after.
The Pioneers scored on the ensuing power play and added two more goals before Phil Erickson answered for the Colonels, concluding a crazy 10-minute run.
“A few penalties hurt us today and some bounces didn’t go our way,” Riley said. “We beat ourselves today and if you look back at all of our losses it was mistakes that we made.”
In that tough stretch in the second period, Wilkes seemed to get frustrated with the physical play from Utica and the noise from a rowdy crowd.
“We looked nervous in the beginning of the game,” Riley said. “It’s a crazy atmosphere to play in and these guys really took on the challenge instead of backing away like most young teams would. They came at us in the physical part of the game but our guys were able come back and answer. It would’ve been easy for a team with 15 freshman in the starting lineup to back away but they continued to fight.”
Both the Pioneers and the Colonels sat in playoff spots prior to the game, but both were looking to secure the best available position.
Since Elmira lost to Chatham, Utica clinched the UCHC regular-season title and the top seed in the UCHC tournament. Wilkes had an opportunity to jump into the two-seed with a win, but they were unable to come back after falling behind 4-2.
Wilkes struggled to put the puck past Pioneer goalie Gianlucca Baggetta. He holds the title as the UCHC’s best goalie with the best save percentage and goals against average.
“We just wanted to fire pucks at the net,” Riley said. “We wanted to really fire from all over. Early on we failed to meet that plan.”
Wilkes will play Nuemann or Nazareth on Tuesday in a one game play-in for the UCHC semifinals. If Wilkes wins they will head to Elmira for a weekend series.
“Tuesday will be all about getting pucks to the net and forcing a really good goalie to work hard,” Riley said.
WOMEN
Utica 3, Wilkes 0
Utica scored two goals in the second period en route to a shutout victory over Wilkes, ending the Colonels’ inaugural season.
Wilkes concluded its season with a 0-15-1 overall record.
A day after finishing with a record-setting 66 saves, Ally Joly finished with 63 saves in net for the Colonels. Utica held a 66-9 shot advantage while winning 42-of-58 faceoffs in the contest.