#4 Utica Univ. (21-4-2) defeats #14 Fitchburg State (15-12-1) 4-1 to advance to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals next weekend. (Photo by Scott Kinville of CNYHockeyReport.com)
It’s playoff time, nice to be back watching some meaningful games. We’re at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, NY for an NCAA Tournament First Round matchup between the #14 Fitchburg State Falcons (15-12-1) & #4 Utica University Pioneers (21-4-2). The winner of this game will face a new opponent with the wild bracket integrity the NCAA gave us this year, locking up an east vs west matchup in the quarterfinal.
If Utica wins, being the highest seed in the quadrant, they’ll host the winner of #12 Gustavus Adolphus (16-9-2) & #5 St. Norbert College (23-5-1), these programs are located in Saint Peter, MN & De Pere, WI, respectively.
If Fitchburg St. wins, being the lowest seed in the field, they’ll hop on a flight to the midwest, visiting either Minnesota for Gustavus or Wisconsin for St. Norbert.
I will reference the great introduction Scott Huston of DIIIHockeyNews.com wrote up for this game in his preview article that can be read in full HERE. We’ll let him do some talking now:
“In this matchup, we have two wildly different programs battling in Round 1. Their first-ever matchup comes on the big stage in the NCAA Tournament. Fitchburg State was a solid team all year long, but definitely a beneficiary of the chaos that happened around them within the MASCAC. Credit to the Falcons though, as they won 5 of 6 down the stretch, including knocking off the upset-minded Trailblazers of MCLA, who defeated both the #1 (Plymouth State) and #2 (Anna Maria) seeds in the MASCAC tournament. This marks just the second appearance in the NCAA Tournament for FSU. Their first coming in 2018, with a First Round loss to Nichols.”
1st Period
Opening puckdrop between Fitchburg State & Utica University in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. (Video by DIIIHockeyNews.com)
The opening puckdrop featured a less-than-lovely attendance, mostly due to a 1pm ET Saturday puck-drop during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade & students on break, but nevertheless, there’s still much excitement from both sides in the building, Fitchburg traveling decently all thing’s considered.
The opening period was back-and-forth, only a single whistle in the first few minutes or so, a fast-paced contest early.
Utica Goal 1-0 (6:10): #12 Matt Wood scores the opening goal of the NCAA Tournament off a deflection from a slapshot in front of the net, similar to an earlier opportunity by the Pioneers which was saved via the blocker by goaltender #29 Max Macchioni.
Utica Goal 2-0 (8:56): #12 Matt Wood scores again, this time off a rebound in front after the Pioneers got a breakaway opportunity which was initially shopped, Wood fired it home in the wide open upper corner of the net. Utica is finding their way early.
Fitchburg has had their chances here and there, #32 Ryan Piros for Utica has kept them all out, mostly rebound or deflection chances for the Falcons. Meanwhile, Macchioni has kept the Falcons in this one, only allowing two when it could’ve easily been more.
Near the end of the period we saw a huge chance from Utica, Macchioni kept it out, we then saw a chance from Fitchburg which was just as narrowly kept out of the net.
Utica Penalty (19:59.9): #4 Aydin Parekh gets called for a light boarding, not the smartest play, but also not the hardest hit, could’ve gone either way
The glaring stat from this period was the face-off total, Utica winning 17-4 and outshooting the Falcons 11-6.
Utica leads 2-0 at the end of the 1st period.
2nd Period
Fitchburg began the period on a powerplay after the penalty by Utica with a mere tenth of a second left on the clock. This looked out of sorts for the first 1:30 of the PP, with the puck spending more time in the Falcon end, but there was an overturned icing call in which the puck was brought to center ice instead of the Fitchburg zone. This would be killed off shortly after.
Fitchburg Penalty (4:40): #18 Jack Johansen gets called for tripping in the corner after a wrap around attempt from Utica. The Falcons would kill off the penalty, limiting Utica’s chances despite the time spent in their own end.
Fitchburg Penalty (7:43): #15 Trenton Skaggs called for high-sticking, an interesting call to say the least after a hit, it didn’t look like much, but who knows. Falcons would kill this off after a few great Pioneer opportunities, keeping the deficit 2-0.
late in the period, Utica’s John Gutt fanned on a wide open rebound that would’ve made it 3-0, instead it remains 2-0. Simply back-and-forth action this period.
Utica Goal 3-0 (18:19): #13 Aiden Hughes scored off the rebound, making it a 3-0 Pioneer lead headed to the 3rd period.
Fitchburg State goaltender #29 Max Macchioni. (Photo by Scott Kinville of CNYHockeyReport.com)
Fitchburg’s goaltender Macchioni in my opinion is the current MVP of the game, despite trailing 3-0, they could be down a lot more if he wasn’t solid in net.
Utica leads 3-0 at the end of the 2nd period.
3rd Period
The final period featured a chance early, but nothing much of note, just some whistle-less hockey. Macchioni continued to impress, keeping the Falcons within striking distance all night, but the offense couldn’t get anything going against Utica for most of the evening.
Utica Goal 4-0 (11:44): #21 Eric Vitale with a highlight-worthy goal, cutting through defenders across the middle point, looping around the net for a wraparound goal, making it 4-0 and likely now out of reach if it wasn’t already.
Fitchburg Goal 4-1 (15:14): #16 Hunter Dunn gets one for the Falcons, a nearside goal on the right side of Piros sneaks through and the Falcons cut into the deficit.
Utica Goal 5-1 (18:53): #30 Gabriel Lundberg didn’t need an empty net to add a late one, he extends the lead, giving the Pioneers the 5-1 victory.
Utica Univ. wins 5-1, they’ll host the winner of Gustavus / St. Norbert as mentioned earlier.
Post-Game Press Conference Notes
Utica Univ. Head Coach Gary Heenan receives an unexpected plate of cupcakes and cookies during his postgame press conference following the win over Fitchburg State. (Photo via Utica Univ. Athletics/NCAA)
I asked Utica Head Coach Gary Heenan what he thought about the surprising bracket the NCAA released, going away from the geographical budget norm, which brings them a new opponent to the Utica Memorial Auditorium (Adirondack Bank Center) in Gustavus or St. Norbert (5 time National Champions). Coach responded with:
“Certainly for us to get a home game, the chance to host a western team is great for our fans as they haven’t had that chance to see in the NCAA Tournament before. Gustavus had a great season and St. Norbert’s with a legendary reputation, what an opportunity having a legend [Head Coach Tim Coghlin] across from you whether we play Gustavus or St. Norbert”.
I asked Fitchburg State Head Coach Dean Fuller what he thought about this group in particular with some notable transfers getting back to the NCAA’s (2nd appearance in program history, other was 2018), and the role they played, he said “They came in with a great group of guys and nucleus that was established”.
