Despite the national rankings, conference championship and regular season accolades, the 25th season of Pioneer Men’s hockey has come to an end. The contenders from the University of Wisconsin-Stout proved to be too much for Utica even on their home ice as they fell to the Blue Devils in a 5-1 loss.
Right from the opening puck drop it was clear what the story of the game was going to be. Both teams were extremely physical and clearly were not shying away from the penalty box. While there were four penalties called in the first period, it was clear the refs were going to let the skaters figure things out themselves.
The third of the four penalties called found the Pioneers on the power play and allowed for almost two full minutes of scoring chances before Alex German scored just his second goal of his collegiate career in a miraculous, baseball swing style goal, batting the puck out of the air. This goal with just a few seconds left on the power play would give the Pioneers the opening goal.
After that however, all the momentum was with the Blue Devils. It only took about two minutes after the Utica goal for the Stout points leader Hayden Stocks to score the equalizer past Kyle Curtin. The game would go into the first intermission locked at one a piece.
“Our team’s struggled to start games all year,” Utica head coach Gary Heenan said after the game. “We get that one goal which usually can get you going.”
The second period would be a very similar story in terms of the gameplay. A little less physical, potentially trying to avoid more penalty calls, but clearly still heated, intense and emotional. The fans at the Adirondack Bank Center would only have to wait two minutes before the doors to the penalty box would open as Will Hilfiker got called for holding. Then 17 seconds into the man advantage, Stocks would score again for the Blue Devils and push them up 2-1.
Later in the period, Wisconsin-Stout’s Nicolas Pigeon would add one more the lead and that would shift the momentum completely. A majority of the third period would consist of valiant efforts from the Pioneers to cut into the lead but would fall short. An empty net goal would be followed by a last second breakaway goal to add the final two goals to end in a 5-1 victory for Wisconsin-Stout.
On the stats sheet, the Pioneers did just about everything right. They dominated the shots on goal and won a majority of the faceoffs. Both of those being paired with Kyle Curtin in the net would almost always result in a win against most teams. Unfortunately for Utica, Wisconsin-Stout isn’t most teams. Scoring five goals on just 22 shots on net is something that no coach or player could have prepared for and the offensive effort was more than enough to advance the Blue Devils into the Frozen Four.
While the loss marks the end of the road for Utica, the conclusion of this season will only be added fuel for Coach Heenan and his squad next year. A loss in the national championship was supposed to be the fuel to come back and win it all so falling in the quarterfinals will give the team even more to fight for.
As for Stout, the win makes things easy on their travel plans. The remainder of the NCAA Tournament games will be played in Utica at the Adirondack Bank Center. Wisconsin-Stout’will take the ice at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 27. They will face off against the three time defending national champions in the Hobart Statesmen and the winner will get two days of rest before taking the same ice again and playing the winner of Aurora vs. Hamilton for a national title.
“We’re thrilled to be here,” Stout coach Mike MacDonald said post game. “It was great to get a win in Utica’s barn and we’re excited to come back here next weekend.”
