Utica seeks redemption in NCAA Division III hockey tourney

Almost a year to the day from an upset loss to the University of New England in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III men’s hockey tournament, Utica University hosts the same team in the same round in the same building.

Last season, Utica was the second seed and lost 2-0 to New England in the Adirondack Bank Center.

This time, Utica is the top seed and had a first round bye. The 10th-seeded Nor’easters beat No. 8 Plymouth State on the road in the first round to get to this point.

This year the quarterfinal showdown is set for 7 p.m. Saturday

at the Adirondack Bank Center. The teams did not play each other during the regular season.

Utica comes in on a long win streak, the same as last year. This time the Pioneers have won their last 18 (they’d won 19 in a row last year going into the quarterfinals). Utica hasn’t lost since Nov. 27. The team is 25-2-1 overall and 14-0-1 at home.

“Our guys, they wanted this matchup. We felt like we blew it last year. And we did. We didn’t perform at the level to get it done,” said Utica head coach Gary Heenan, who has been in the role since the program was founded in 2000. “How many times do you get another crack at it? And we do.” He added, “These are the guys who took it away from us last year and ruined our dream.”

Heenan said, “The focus for us all year has been on us. We really feel like the only team that can beat Utica is Utica.” The team is the top seed, he noted, so “it’s up to us to play to our potential, to the way we can perform.” Last year against New England, “We didn’t play great. This time of year you have to play great.”

The team’s long win streak is important, Heenan noted. “It matters greatly. We certainly had our ups and downs but the reason we’re in this position is when we’re down we’ve bounced back.”

The Nor’easters are “stingy on defense,” Heenan said. Billy Girard IV, who shut out the Pioneers last time when Utica outshot them 40 to 17, is back in net for New England. Heenan said the key this time is to get to him early. The pace of play will be a key for Utica, the coach said. “We’re old and were skilled. We can lull ourselves to sleep because the puck’s on our stick. We have to remind ourselves to push the pace.” That includes getting shots from close in rather than settling for shots from too far out.

The Pioneers have plenty of offensive firepower. Remy Parker leads the team with 23 goals and Lucas Herrmann has 15. Mic

Curran, Dante Zapata, Regen Cavanagh and John Moncovich have a dozen each. Curran and Jayson Dobay (five goals, 32 assists) lead the team with 37 points each. One source the team will be without is Jakob Breault, who scored 11 times this season but is out with concussion symptoms.

Utica goalie Bryan Landsberger is 25-2-1, having logged almost all of the team’s minutes in net. He has a 1.80 goals-against-average and a .924 save percentage.

“It’s 100% redemption,” Heenan said of the game, as perhaps 90% of the players on this year’s roster were part of last year’s playoff loss. “We spoke about it this entire year.”