Men's Varsity Sweeps Utica in Season Opener

The Men's NCAA team took on the Utica Pioneers this past weekend on the road to open their season Friday and Saturday night.

The first twenty minutes of action in Utica, New York would go by scoreless. Utica would gain the first lead of the game with an even strength goal at the 9:08 mark of the second period. The Pioneers would hold the lead through the end of the second period until freshman Jared Domin would score his first as a Bulldog to tie things up at 1 at the 3:25 mark of the third period. Junior Dino Balsamo and freshman Austin Bottrell would grab assists on Domin's goal. Bottrell would net a goal of his own seven minutes later to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game. Domin and freshman Matt Eller would assist on Bottrell's goal. Balsamo would add an empty net goal with 34 seconds remaining in the game to secure the win for the Bulldogs with the lone assist going to Eller. Final score Friday night would be 3-1 in favor of the visiting Bulldogs with senior Kevin Entmaa picking up the win in net.

Special teams would be the story on Saturday evening as the two teams squared off once again. Senior captain Cory Dunn would send home the first goal of the game at the 11:27 mark of the first period on the powerplay to give the Bulldogs an early lead. Austin Bottrell and Dino Balsamo would assist. Matt McNair would add a shorthanded goal with 16 seconds remaining in the first period with assists from junior Niko Coffman and Balsamo. After one, the Bulldogs would hold a 2-0 lead over the Pioneers.

Jared Domin would net his second in two games at the 3:01 mark of the second period, once again on the powerplay, to put the Bulldogs up 3-0. Dunn and Braden Hellems would both assist. The Pioneers would cut the lead down to 3-1 at the 15:05 mark of the second period and the two teams would head to the third period with a 3-1 score in favor of the visiting Bulldogs.

The Pioneers would pull within one 8 seconds into the third while on the powerplay, but the Bulldogs would hold off the Pioneers until the buzzer sounded to skate by with a 3-2 win. Kevin Entmaa would once again grab the win in net for the Bulldogs Saturday evening.

The Bulldogs will take on Lawrence University and Marian University this weekend in their first weekend of home games. The Bulldogs and Vikings square off at 7:05 Friday night while the Bulldogs and Sabres face off at 3:05 on Saturday afternoon at Arrington Ice Arena.