UTICA — Utica University’s men’s hockey team is one win away from earning a spot in the NCAA’s Division III Frozen Four in the Adirondack Bank Center next weekend.
So is Hamilton College’s team.
Utica and Hamilton host quarterfinals Saturday with the winners advancing to play in the national semifinals in Utica March 27 at 3 and 7 p.m. Hobart and Endicott colleges host Saturday’s other two games after entering the national tournament with byes into the quarterfinals.
Utica takes the ice at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Frozen Four site against the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Hamilton takes on Norwich University at the same time on campus at Russell Sage Rink.
Hamilton (20-5-2) and Utica (20-7-1) are on opposite sides of the bracket and would not play head-to-head until the championship game which will be played March 29 at 3 p.m.
Undefeated Hobart (28-0-0) is the three-time defending champion, and the Statesmen defeated Utica 2-1 in overtime in last year’s championship game at the Nexus Center. Hobart’s semifinal opponent is St. Norbert College (22-6-2).
Endicott (21-3-3) hosts Aurora University (20-7-1) for its quarterfinal.
University of Wisconsin-Stout at Utica University
Utica advanced with a 3-0 shutout of Williams College in the opening round and the Pioneers carry a four-game win streak into their quarterfinal.
Andrew Della Rovere, John Gutt and Aidan Hughes scored goals in the second period, and Kyle Curtin made 28 saves against Williams which had upset Hamilton in overtime in the previous weekend’s NESCAC tournament.
Wisconsin-Stout (22-5-1) advanced with a 4-1 win over Anna Maria College in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and has won nine consecutive games. Gunner Moore and Tristan Therrien scored first period goals, Hayden Stocks put the Blue Devils up 3-0 in the second, and Kullan Daikawa added an empty net goal at the end.
Drake Morse has 17 goals, 18 assists and 35 points to lead a Utica team that scores an average of 4.5 goals per game and has six double-digit goal-scorers, a group that includes Gutt (14), Eric Vitale (14), Della Rovere (12), Nick Ahern (11) and Hughes (11). Last week’s shutout was the Pioneers’ fourth this season and dropped the team’s goals against average to 2.21.
Stocks leads Wisconsin-Stout with 15 goals, 19 assists and 34 points, and Maksis Brimanis (11), Therrien (11), Nicolas Pigeon (10) and Arhip Sidarovich (10) are all double-digit goals scorers for a team averaging 3.75 goals per game and allowing 2.29.
The teams’ only previous meeting was a 4-2 Utica win at the 2014 Oswego Classic.
Norwich University at Hamilton College
Hamilton’s 6-2 win over Neumann University saw the Continentals come within one goal of their season high achieved twice earlier in the season, and was the team’s first win in regulation play in exactly one month.
The Continentals finished the regular season and conference tournament with three overtime games and a regulation loss.
Hamilton scored four times in the third period after trailing 1-0 after the first, and entering the third tied at 2. Max Bulawka broke the tie with a goal 5:26 into the third period, then scored again 17 seconds later. Luke Tchor also scored two goals, Ryan Sordillo scored first for the Continentals, and Curtiss Sturgeon capped the scoring against an empty net.
Norwich (19-5-4) won 6-1 at Salve Regina University and was the only first round winner on the road. Six players scored goals for the Cadets, who took a 3-0 lead in the first period, and goalie Sami Molu made 33 saves while holding Salve Regina to a single goal on a third period power play.
Tchor leads Hamilton with 16 goals and shares the point lead at 30 with Devon de Vries who has 24 assists. Bulawka has added 11 goals for the Continentals who average 3.8 per game while allowing 1.85.
Ben van Waterschoot leads Norwich with 22 assists and 31 points, while Zach Ophaven has a team-high 15 goals. Boyd Stahlbaum has scored 11 goals and Colin Elliott has 10 for a team that averages 3.7 per game while allowing two.
The Cadets have won their last three games and have a 9-0-3 mark in their last 12.
Hamilton was a 4-1 winner the last time the teams met last January, but Norwich eliminated Hamilton when last they met in the national tournament on the way to the most recent of its four championships in 2017.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Utica, Hamilton play at home again in Division III hockey playoffs
Reporting by Jon Rathbun, Herkimer Times Telegram / Times Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
