UTICA, NY (December 4, 2021) – The King's College men's ice hockey team gave a sold out crowd of nearly 3,999 fans a hard-fought game in a tough 8-0 loss to third-ranked Utica College on Saturday night at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The Pioneers were hosting their 17th New York SASH Teddy Bear Toss game against the Monarchs.

King's showed no signs of being intimidated by the highly-ranked opponent as Mahingan Decontie won the opening faceoff and right away Luke Babilon tested Louis-Felix St. Jean with a shot on net. The teams played back-and-forth for the first five minutes before Utica scored setting off the teddy bear toss from the crowd. Eric Holland scored 5:05 into the game after he intercepted a pass inside the Monarch blue line, took the puck up the ice to a one-on-one with Monarch defender, and put a shot just over Tyler Sayger's left shoulder and into the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season.

The Pios increased their lead to 2-0 at 13:17 as Brandon Osmundson ripped a shot from just inside the left circle to just inside the left post off a pass from Blake Homes. Buster Larsson made it 3-0 at 16:14 of the period as he ripped a shot from top of the left circle for a power-play goal.

Utica scored three more times in the second period to take a 6-0 lead. Mic Curran scored first for his second goal of the season at 8:34 before John Moncovich found the back of the net at 11:24. Holland scored his second unassisted goal of the night on a breakaway at 12:38. In the third period Blake Holmes ripped a shot from right wing through a screen to give the Pios a 7-0 lead at 3:47 before Justin Allen scored on a shot from left wing through traffic at 5:10.

The Monarchs put 23 shots on goal against the highly touted Utica defense. It is tied for the second-most shots the Pioneers have allowed this year with only Wilkes putting 25 shots on goal against Utica on Friday night. Babilon and Kent Lee led the squad with four shots each while Zach Satalino and Aaron Frenkel took three shots apiece. KC blocked a season-high 14 shots and Satalino had a team-high four. Patrick Nowak won a team-high eight faceoffs while losing six. Tyler Sayger made a season-high 41 saves in goal.  

The Monarchs will wrap up the first semester on Sunday evening with a 5 pm game at Nazareth College. King's is making their first trip to Rochester since upsetting the Golden Flyers to end the 2019-20 season.