Utica College Men’s Hockey Loses UCHC Series in Heartbreaker

The Utica College Men's Hockey team lost a heartbreaker in game two of the UCHC Conference Tournament on Sunday and then went on to drop the ensuing mini game to follow as Manhattanville College won the UCHC Title and an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Men's Hockey Tournament.

With 5.8 seconds left in game-two regulation and the game tied at 3, Manhattanville scored the winning goal to take the lead, stunning the full-house crowd at the Adirondack Bank Center. With the series tied at 1 game a piece, tournament rules called for a mini game to determine the conference winner and the Valiants came out on top, 2-1.

The Pioneers went into Sunday's games with a 1-0 lead in the series after a 5-2 victory over the Valiants on Saturday night. The Pioneers snapped an eight game win streak and a 13 game unbeaten streak with the game two loss and their record fell to 20-7-2 overall on the season.  The Pioneers will now rely on an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament selections will be announced on Monday at 10:30 a.m.

Manhattanville's record moved to 17-8-5 overall on the season.  The Valiant's captain, Eric Berglund, netted a go-ahead goal and the game-winner with 5.8 seconds left in the third period of game two on his way to being named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Utica senior captain Gregg Burmaster (Clinton, NY/Colorado College (NCHC)) scored a goal and added an assist on Sunday, finishing the tournament with three goals and six assists, to earn All-Tournament Team honors.  UC's Daniel Fritz (Harwood, MD/Canisius College (Atlantic Hockey)) was also an All-Tournament Team selection as he capped the tournament with two goals and four assists.