BRYN ATHYN, Pa. – The Bryn Athyn College men's ice hockey team heads to New York to face its biggest test of the 2017-18 season with a contest against seventh-ranked Utica College on Friday night at 7 p.m. in the Adirondack Bank Center.
Tickets for the game are being sold for $7.
LAST TIME OUT
Bryn Athyn (6-8-1) pulled off an exhibition-weekend sweep of Aquinas on Jan. 19-20 by scores of 2-0 and 4-1. In the opening victory, Landon Trutt recorded 31 saves for the shutouts and was helped out offensively with goals from Camden Cacolice and Tanner Congdon. Nick Malvasi, Nikita Smirnov, Anthony DePetres, and Condgon scored for the Lions in Saturday's victory. Isaac Syre stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced.
Utica (13-3-1) skated to a 3-3 tie against fifth-ranked Oswego State on Jan. 20 in the Adirondack Bank Center. Daniel Fritz, Roman Ammirato, and Anthony McVeigh all scored for the Pioneers, while Patrik Virtanen recorded 31 saves. The Pioneers went 1-for-3 on the power play
SCOUTING THE LIONS
The Lions have scored two goals in each of the last three regular-season games. Bryn Athyn is 5-0-0 when scored three or more goals and 1-8-1 when being held to two or fewer goals.
Bryn Athyn enters Friday's game 46th in Division III in scoring offense with 2.87 goals per game and 54th with 3.33 goals allowed per game. In terms of special teams, the Lions are 21st on the power play at 21.3 percent (16-of-75) and 43rd on the penalty kill at 82.1 percent (64-of-78). Bryn Athyn had scored on the power play before going 0-for-4 against SUNY Cortland.
Julion Lever, Alec Grollman, and Nikita Smirnov are leading the Lions with 10 points each. Lever is tops on the team with six goals. Grollman—who has scored three of his five goals on the power play—sits 34th in Division III in points per game by a freshman with 0.71. Smirnov has a straight in each of the last three regular season games.
McKenzie Chalmers, who had the weekend off against Aquinas, is 6-7-1 with a 3.17 goals against average and a .913 save percentage. He is ranked 55th in Division III in save percentage and 78th in goals against average.
SCOUTING UTICA
Utica—seventh in the United States College Hockey Online and D3Hockey.com polls—has the third-best scoring offense in Division III with 4.53 goals per game. The Pioneers are nearly as strong on the defensive side of the ice, ranking eighth in scoring defense with 1.88 goals allowed per game.
Nearly one-third of Utica's 77 goals have come on the Pioneers' second-ranked power play, scoring on 27.0 percent (24-of-89) of its man advantages. In the last six games, Utica has scored at least one power-play goal and is 11-for-29 on its power play opportunities. Utica has a power-play goal in 14 of its 17 games.
The Pioneers are 15th in Division III on the penalty kill at 87.1 percent (74-of-85).
Roman Ammirato is one of Division III's top scoring threats with 15 goals and 10 assists and enters Friday night on a six-game point streak. Ammirato sits third in Division III with 0.88 goals per game and 12th with 1.47 points per game. He leads the nation with eight power play goals.
An offensive-minded defenseman, Dalton Carter is third in Division II for points per game and a defenseman and 34th in points per game overall with 1.31. He is ranked 25th with 0.88 assists per game. Carter—who has a point in five straight games—has seven goals and 14 assists.
Freshmen Conor Landrigan (seven goals, nine assists) and Brent Everson (three goals, 13 assists) are 9th and 12th, respectively, in Division III for points per game for a freshman.
In goal, Utica is led by Patrik Virtanen, who is 18th in save percentage (.930) and 23rd in goals against average (2.06). Virtanen has a 9-2-1 record in 12 starts.