D3: Captain Burmaster helps Utica right ship, sail to top seed

Utica senior captain Gregg Burmaster. (Utica Athletics)

For the first time in program history, the Utica College men’s ice hockey team took a trip to Wisconsin. After Thanksgiving, the team played in the Stevens Point Holiday Tournament. Awaiting the team in the championship game was top-ranked University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

In the first meeting between the schools, Utica lost, 4-1, after a pair of late third period goals. It dropped the team to a 4-5 record.

Still, head coach Gary Heenan believed that game and that trip were turning points for a young Pioneers squad.

“We played Stevens Point, a team that’s still undefeated, and we were right there,” he said. “It gave us that confidence against a team playing with zero freshmen. We said we can compete with the best, and we’ve got a good thing going.”

From there, Utica went unbeaten in 15 of its next 16 games and earned its third consecutive regular-season conference championship and the top seed in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference tournament.

Utica, the defending UCHC tournament champion, have now won five regular-season championships in seven seasons.

“I think we’ve been able to develop a culture in our building where fans expect us to win,” Heenan said. “The (Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium) has become an intimidating place to play. Our home record is outstanding. Success breeds success.”

The success Utica has achieved throughout the season is not something that came easily. The team needed to overcome several obstacles in the early going.

The team is young — 12 freshmen are on the roster — with only four seniors to lead them. The team’s starting goalie from the previous season, Patrik Virtanen, left the team to pursue a professional contract in France. The player to replace Virtanen, Gianluca Baggetta, was injured in the first game of the season and missed the next four games. There also was a challenging schedule that set Utica up for a collision course with top Division 3 teams such as Stevens Point and Adrian College.

Heenan said his message to the team during this time was just to stay the course.

“It was always about process,” he said. “It was about how we’re on a journey, and you were recruited here for a reason, you can play hockey. Process has been a big word here. We’re on a path. We’re on a journey. We’ll have plenty of opportunity to succeed. Stay the course, stay with each other, and by the end of the year, we should be competing for it.”

One player who helped the team right the ship was senior captain Gregg Burmaster.

“He’s a 4.0 student. He’s a monster in the weight room. He’s excelling on the ice. It’s a privilege to have him here,” Heenan said. “We ask our young guys to follow him that way. When he speaks, the guys will listen, but he’s more your quiet presence in the room.”

Burmaster (Clinton, N.Y.) said those things were out of his control, however, so the only thing he could do was play his hardest and try to get the newcomers up to speed quicker. He also used his experience not just at Utica but also as a transfer from Division 1 program Colorado College, to help his team get through some of the challenges they all faced.

“It’s a big obstacle to overcome, to get everyone playing on the same page and get everybody meshing well with each other and getting along and getting to know each other,” he said. “Chemistry is important, especially going into a long season.”

While his leadership was important, Burmaster backed up his support of the team through his play on the ice.

The 2018 UCHC Postseason MVP, Burmaster leads the team in goals (17) and points (36), and he is second in assists (19). He has tallied at least one point in 18 of the 25 games he’s played in.

He really turned on the juice down the stretch. Against Chatham, Stevenson and King’s College — the three games just before the season finale — Burmaster scored a combined nine goals to go with four assists, including four goals and two assists in Utica’s 10-1 victory over King’s College. He won the conference Player of the Week two weeks in a row at the end of the regular season.

While he helped his teammates navigate the challenges at the start of the season, he said they have helped him throughout the year as well.

“Our team has a lot of skill,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t an individual effort. I had a lot of help from my teammates. I wouldn’t have had the same season without them, and I need to keep it rolling in the postseason.”

The Pioneers have once again ended the regular season atop the standings. They once again are the team to beat in the playoffs.

Heenan said the team isn’t feeling the pressure, however. They’re just enjoying playing good hockey.

“It’s funny because going into the year, based on last year’s success, we were ranked in the preseason top 10 and shared with Elmira, maybe, the number one team to finish in this league,” Heenan said. “I was very public saying, ‘That’s based on last year’s success, and that we’re not that good yet.’ We still see each other as underdogs. We think we’ve overachieved. I don’t think we’re feeling the pressure. We’re enjoying the streak we’re on, and we’re loving playing at home.”

Team of the Week

Plattsburgh

The Cardinals finished the season with back-to-back wins against Cortland and third-ranked Oswego to earn a home playoff game. Plattsburgh then defeated Brockport, 3-1, in the first round of the SUNYAC Tournament to set up another contest against Oswego.

Player of the Week

Jack Bloem, Fr., F, Potsdam

In the final two games of the regular season, the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., native scored four goals, including his first career hat trick in a 5-2 victory over Cortland.

Game of the Week

Manhattanville at Elmira

UCHC semifinals
Friday and Saturday, Feb. 22 and 23, (7 P.M.)

These two teams are hot. Despite losing the final game of the regular season, Elmira was unbeaten in its previous eight games. Manhattanville is on an eight-game winning streak, including a 5-2 victory over Lebanon Valley in the UCHC quarterfinals.