WILKES-BARRE, PA (December 5, 2018) – The King's College men's ice hockey team will be at home this weekend for the first time since November 16-17 for a pair of games against Nazareth College and Utica College. Both the Golden Flyers and Pioneers enter the weekend tied atop the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) standings and are receiving votes in both national polls this week.
 
Event Details
Opponent: vs Nazareth College (6-1-4, 4-1-2 UCHC)
Date: Friday December 7, 2018
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Pittston, PA – Revolution Ice Centre (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats) (Live Video)
 
Opponent: vs Utica College (6-5-0, 5-2-0 UCHC)
Date: Saturday December 8, 2018
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Pittston, PA – Revolution Ice Centre (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats) (Live Video)
 
Last Time Out: The Monarchs rallied with goals by Jamie Lukas and Tommy Green in the final 10 minutes of the game to defeat Neumann 2-1 last Friday for the program's first victory. Brandon Daigle made 46 saves in net including 40 in a row after the Knights scored in the first period. King's fell short at Manhattanville in the second game of the weekend as the host Valiants scored seven goals in the second period to come away with a 9-1 victory.
 
Nazareth won two games last weekend on home ice defeating Chatham 4-1 and Stevenson 5-2. J.R. Wojciechowski scored twice against the Cougars and then added two assists against the Mustangs to lead the Flyers. Austin Romzek scored twice, and David Powlowski had two assists in the win against SU. Michael Tilford made 30 saves to pick up the win in goal against Chatham while Sean Kuhn finished with 27 saves in the victory over Stevenson.
 
Utica rebounded nicely from a tough loss at top-ranked Wisconsin Stevens Point with a 7-1 victory over Stevenson and a 5-0 shutout over Chatham in the Pioneers annual Teddy Bear Toss game. Zach Borsoi had a goal and three assists against Stevenson and added two assists against Chatham to earn UCHC Player of the Week honors. The Pioneers had 11 different goal scorers in the two games with Jarrod Fitzpatrick's two goals against the Mustangs the only multi-goal scorer of the weekend. Gianluca Baggetta made 29 saves in net against Stevenson while Sean Dickson made 30 saves for his first shutout of the year against Chatham.
 
The Book On The Monarchs (1-11-0, 1-6-0 UCHC, 0-4-0 MAC):

• The Monarchs won their first-game in program history last weekend by rallying with two goals in the final 10 minutes on the road to defeat Neumann 2-1.
• Brandon Daigle stopped 46 of 47 shots in the game including 40 in a row to finish the game. His biggest save came right at the end of the game stopping a last second shot with the Monarchs on the penalty kill. The freshman was named UCHC Goaltender of the Week for his performance against the Knights.
• Daigle has started the past six games for the Monarchs and has a season goals against average of 4.44. Daigle has made 306 saves on 341 shots for a .897 save percentage.
• Tommy Green scored the game-winning goal against the Knights last Friday for his first of the season. The sophomore scored with 2:29 left off assists by Matt Amelio and Cameron Anklewich.
• Anklewich has skated in all 36 games the Monarchs have played including the 12 this year. The sophomore recorded his 10th career point against Neumann and has a team-best plus/minus of -3.
• Jamie Lukas scored the game-tying goal six minutes earlier for his sixth of the season and 10th of his career. Three of his goals this year have come on the power play. The senior had his four-game scoring streak broken against Manhattanville on Saturday.
• Luciano Bucci leads the team with 10 points on three goals and seven assists after another multiple point weekend. The sophomore has recorded at least one point in eight games this season, including three straight games. Bucci has also won the most faceoffs on the team going 110-80 for a .579 percentage.
• Christian La Croix continued his strong play on the power play last weekend with another goal against the Valiants. The sophomore transfer has three goals and one assist while taking a team-leading 21 shots when King's is on a power play opportunity. La Croix is tied for 17th in Division III power play goals this season.
• Freshman Michael DiSchiavi recorded another assist this weekend to continue his impressive start to his career with four assists in 11 games. He has also been great on faceoffs winning 17 of his 23 attempts for a team-leading .739 percentage.
• King's is down to 15.2 penalty minutes per game on 78 penalties. The Monarchs have been successful on 44 of 61 penalty kills this year and have scored two short-handed goals.

The Book On The Golden Flyers (6-1-4, 4-1-2 UCHC):

• Nazareth looks to end the first half atop the UCHC standings with two wins this weekend. The Golden Flyers have lost just once this season and two wins this weekend with give them the least amount of conference losses after the first round of games. NC is receiving six votes in the USCHO Poll and three in the D3Hockey.com Poll.
• The Golden Flyers are playing true road games for just the second weekend this year. NC went 1-1 on their only other road trip of the year defeating Lebanon Valley 4-0 before losing to Elmira 5-3.
• NC has needed more than just the regulation overtime twice in conference games this season. Both games came on the opening weekend of conference play as the Golden Flyers fell to Neumann in the 3v3 session before needing a shootout to take the extra points against Manhattanville.
• Nazareth won both games against the Monarchs last year including an 8-1 victory in Pittston. The Golden Flyers scored three times in the first and then added four more in the second period in the ninth game of the year. The contest in Rochester was a little closer as NU scored twice in the final 10 minutes to set the final score of 6-2 in the season finale.
• David Powlowski is leading the Flyers and is 34th in the nation with 1.36 points per game on six goals and nine assists. Four of his goals have been on the power play. The senior had three assists last weekend and is has recorded a point in all but two games this season.
• Justin Miller has six goals and five assists for 11 points and is tied for 13th in points per game by a freshman with 1.00.
• J.R. Wojciechowski has three goals and five assists this year for eight points while Jacob Paluch has recorded eight assists.
• In goal Sean Kuhn is 15th in the nation with a GAA of 1.73 and sixth with a .946 save percentage in five games. Michael Tilford has played four games and has a GAA of 2.57 and a save percentage of 9.25.
• Nazareth is 20th with a scoring margin of 1.18 scoring 3.45 goals per game while allowing 2.27.
• The Golden Flyers have been dangerous on power plays this year scoring 12 goals in 54 chances for a 22.2 percentage which is ranked tied for 22nd. NC has been very disciplined committing just 12.0 penalty minutes per game.

The Book On The Pioneers (6-5-0, 5-2-0 UCHC):

• The defending UCHC Champions are tied atop this year's standings with 15 points while receiving three votes in this week's USCHO Poll and five in the D3Hockey.com Poll. The Pioneers began the year ranked in both.
• UC has struggled on the road this year going just 1-3 in true road games and are 2-3 away from the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Utica's three road losses have been to Nazareth, Lebanon Valley, and top-ranked Stevens Point.
• The Monarchs played Utica very tough last year in the two meeting despite dropping 6-1 and 8-3 decisions to the Pioneers. In Utica, the hosts scored three short-handed goals and two power play goals in a game that was tied at 1 after the first period. Five second period goals were the difference in the meeting played in Pittston on the final weekend of the year.
• King's will face the reigning UCHC Player of the Week for the second consecutive weekend as defenseman Zach Borsoi earned the conference honor this week after a six-point weekend. The senior has 12 points on four goals and eight assists.
• Senior Gregg Burmaster is also coming off a big weekend where he had a goal in each game and added two assists against Chatham. The forward has six goals and six goals on the season.
• Josh Haskins leads the team in points per game with 1.20 as the sophomore has scored two goals and added a team-leading 10 assists. He recorded four of his assists in a 5-1 victory over Manhattanville on the opening weekend of conference play.
• Brett Everson and Regen Cavanagh also have double digit points this year as Everson has 11 on two goals and nine assists while Cavanagh has 10 on six goals and four assists. Everson had two assists against the Mustangs and Cougars last weekend and added a goal against Chatham.
• Junior Gianluca Baggetta and freshman Sean Dickson have split time in goal and have nearly identical numbers. Dickson has a 3-2-0 record in seven games, five starts, with one shutout, a GAA of 2.11, and a save percentage of .929. Baggetta is 3-3-0 in six games with one shutout, a 2.32 GAA, and a .923 save percentage.
• Utica is ninth in the nation in scoring with 4.09 goals per game. Their scoring margin of 1.73 is 12th-best in Division III.
• The Pioneers have been one of the best teams in the nation in not committing penalties as their 9.1 minutes per game is sixth-best. UC has been successful on 81.0 percent of their 53 penalty kills and have scored three short-handed goals.

 
Up Next: King's will be off for the rest of the month as the team takes a break for finals and the holidays. The Monarchs will return to action the first weekend of 2019 with a two-game series at Trine University in Angola, Indiana on Friday January 4 and Saturday January 5.