PITTSTON, PA (Feb. 3, 2024) - - King's College men's ice hockey lost 7-0 to No. 3 Utica College in the second game of this weekend's United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) series at Revolution Ice Centre this afternoon. The Monarchs are now 8-13-0 overall and 7-9-0 in UCHC play this season.

The Monarchs hung tough with the Pioneers throughout the entire first period of play. Despite Utica outshooting King's 15-4 in the first 20 minutes of play, the Monarchs played strong defensively and held back the Pioneers until the 18:48 minute mark. King's continued to prevent Utica from scoring for the remaining minute, trailing the Pioneers only 1-0 going into the second period. Tyler Sayger collected 14 saves in goal the first period. 

King's continued to slow Utica's offense to start the second period and prevented them from scoring for the first six minutes of play. The Pioneers scored their first goal 6:38 minutes into play to put them ahead 2-0. They found the back of the net a third time about 10 minutes later and then a fourth time with about three minutes left in the period. Utica ended the second period with a 4-0 lead over King's. Despite the score board, Sayger played strong in goal again tabbing 16 saves in the second period. 

The Pioneers came out quick from the time the puck dropped and scored their fifth goal of the evening less than 30 seconds into the third period and then again less than a minute later. At the 3:18 mark, Utica scored its game winning goal as the Monarchs slowed the Pioneers' offensive momentum for the remainder of the game. The Pioneers ultimately defeated the Monarchs 7-0.

After a goalie substitution in the third period, Sayger ended the game with 30 saves and Diego D'Alessandro picked up 14 in the third period. Erik Borschevsky and Alex Ray led the Monarchs defense with 2 blocks each, and Ethan Hersant tallied 14 faceoff wins for King's offense.

The Monarchs take the ice again next Friday, Feb. 9, at home again at Revolution Ice Centre for Senior Day against MAC & UCHC opponent Lebanon Valley at 3pm.