Christian Rodriguez, Staff Writer

UC’s Men’s Hockey had some ups and downs over the four-game stretch during the winter break. After going 2-2, head coach Gary Heenan says that his guys are working hard but it has to be night in and night out.

“We were a little inconsistent,” Heenan said. “One night we are scoring and the next we aren’t, one night the special teams are playing well and the next they aren’t. It’s all about putting it all together at this point.”

There are contributions coming from pretty much everyone. The freshmen are making an impact as well. “Our young guys are really coming along nicely,” Hennan, said.

The team started the break strong with two back-to-back wins. On Dec. 17 the Pioneers came out on top in a close game against Morrisville state by a score of 3-2 in over time. Junior forward Kevin Valenti tipped home the game-winner.

In the next outing at the Oswego Classic, The Pioneers defeated Curry College 4-1, with four players chipping in a goal; senior Luc Boby and juniors Vince Stefan, Dalton Carter and Mikhail Bushinski.

In the final game of the classic UC fell to Oswego State by a score of 4-1. Former ECAC Freshman of the Week, Jarrod Fitzpatrick scored the first goal of the game in the first period. The Lakers went on to tie the game in the second period and sealed the game with a huge three-goal third period.

The Pioneers returned home to face the University of New England. The balanced scoring from Riley Egan, Connor Schmidt and Anthony McVeigh wasn’t enough as UNE scored in the every period of the game to come out with the victory by a score of 7-3.

UC is currently 6-0 in conference play and 10-6 overall. “I am looking forward to getting back to conference play,” Heenan said.