UTICA, N.Y. – The Wilkes University men's ice hockey team dropped the second game of the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) Championship Series as the host Utica College Pioneers captured the title with a 6-2 victory on Saturday night.
 
Wilkes finishes its second season with a 19-10 overall record and will await word on a possible at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
 
Utica got the first scoring chance of the game 58 seconds into the first when Wilkes turned it over in the defensive zone leading to a wide-open shot from the right faceoff circle that bounced into the stands off the shaft of goaltender Michael Paterson-Jones' (Baldwinsville, NY) stick.
 
Paterson-Jones made perhaps the save of the season around the 11:30 mark of the first. While on the power-play Wilkes gave up a two-on-one opportunity, which resulted in a cross-crease pass and a one-timer with the Colonels goaltender sliding across the crease on his stomach to make what appeared to be a glove save, keeping the Pioneers off the board.
 
Utica opened the scoring with a short-handed tally at 18:26 of the first. The Pioneers added to their advantage with an even-strength one-timer at 6:37 of the second. Utica increased the deficit to 3-0 at 14:04 of the second.
 
Tyler Barrow (Massapequa, NY) got Wilkes on the board at the 16:00 minute mark of the second when he stuffed home a shot off a diving Pioneer defenseman with assists from Michael Gurska (Revere, MA) and Devon Schell (Scarsdale, NY/).
 
The Pioneers made the score 4-1 at 2:43 of the third with a fat-shot that just snuck in under Paterson-Jones' pad.
 
Barrow added his second score of the contest on a tic-tac-toe at 3:41 with Phil Erickson (Eau Claire, WI/) and a secondary assist from Schell.
 
Utica regained a three goal advantage at 10:39 of the third with an even-strength tally.
 
The Pioneers added a sixth tally at 12:56 of the third to take a 6-2 lead, which would finish as the final outcome giving Utica its second UCHC title in three years.
 
Barrow led the Colonels with the pair of goals while Schell added assists on both tallies. Patterson-Jones, who was phenomenal all postseason, finished with 28 saves in goal for Wilkes in the defeat.